Wawasee Finally Slays The Beast
SYRACUSE – The last time Wawasee had reason to cheer following a girls swim dual with Northridge, most of Wawasee’s roster were not yet born. But the echoes of 1996 were raised Monday night as the Lady Warriors broke a 16-year losing streak to Northridge in a 105-81 victory, and in turn completing an undefeated Northern Lakes Conference round robin season.
Wawasee, which finish 7-0 in the NLC and move to 9-0 overall, still have a little work to do with this weekend’s NLC Girls Swimming Championships looming. But the battle for conference supremacy as well as some loud bragging rights came in front of a hot and wild crowd the Wawasee Natatorium hasn’t seen in ages. Likely since 1996 when Wawasee last went undefeated in the conference and won its last NLC girls swim crown.
Wawasee as a school had not won an NLC title in any sport since the girls golf team ran the table in 2010.
Getting there proved a challenge from the get-go as Northridge took a 13-3 lead after diving, paced by the 220.90 scored by Jenna Denlinger in a ‘Ridge sweep.
Before the swimming even started, Northridge (7-3, 6-1 NLC) looked to do all it could to find an advantage to what head coach Joe Keller admitted was searching for answers.
Taking liberties to change lineups moments before the swimmers took to the blocks, delays in starts only added to the drama with every slip of paper Northridge assistant Steve Troyer handed the scorer’s table with new names for new lane assignments. All told, Keller couldn’t finagle enough depth to keep up with a loaded Wawasee team.
“In all honesty, at the beginning of the season this shouldn’t have even been close,” started Keller. “We predicted to land somewhere in fourth or fifth in the conference. The progress we made to be in this position was outstanding. We needed to win a couple more races, and we didn’t. Wawasee proved they are the best in the conference, and their depth took them there tonight.”
Once the racing finally got under way, Wawasee’s aces continued to impress while its ‘B’ lanes exposed Northridge’s glaring weakness. Much like its win over Goshen last Saturday, doing the little things brought a huge team goal to Wawasee.
In the 50 freestyle, Wawasee’s Kendra Miller led the charge home at 26.94 while teammates Mikala Mawhorter and Cassidy Manning claimed a close third and fourth. A 500 freestyle win by Kendra’s little sister, Paige, at 5:10.30 beat Northridge’s top effort from Katie Hughes’ 5:14.88. But the real excitement came in the following wave, where Anna Park’s rally in the final 20 yards to beat Miranda VanCoppenolle by one second at 5:51.18 brought a roar from the home crowd unheard since Wawasee hosted sectionals a decade ago.
A one-two from the Wawasee 200 free relay teams followed by a 1:04.11 win by Kayla Hershberger in the backstroke, taking Northridge ace Sydney Boyer by .83, sealed the deal.
Click here to see a video of the official announcement of Wawasee’s victory over Northridge. The video is provided by Amy Kuhn.
“Our 50 freestylers – all three of them – all stepped up and did great,” said Wawasee head coach Julie Robinson. “That was the one event I thought we could be in real trouble and then they all had huge swims. Anna had an outstanding swim in the 500, that was big for us. Kayla had a lifetime best in the 100 backstroke. Tonight was just great for us as a program.”
Paige Miller was a benefactor of the shuffling of swimmers Northridge wanted to employ early. Originally not scheduled to swim the 200 freestyle, Keller’s replacement of swimmers had Robinson counter, taking Bre Robinson out of the event and slotting in Miller. The freshman was solid, winning going away at 1:57.94.
Bre Robinson was outstanding as usual, moving from the 200 to the individual medley and nearly setting a school record with a 2:07.28, less than two seconds off the mark. Bre would add two more records to her lengthy list of accomplishments, setting a pool record in her 55.36 win in the butterfly and helping the 400 free relay to a pool standard of 3:41.41, smashing the old record of 3:44.05 Wawasee set two years ago. The fly record was 56.51, set by Bre’s older sister, Brittany, who now swims with the University of Louisville.
Swimming the 200 free relay (1:44.32) to victory were Robinson, the two Millers and Shelby Adams. On the 400 free relay were Robinson, the two Millers and Hershberger.
Nikki Willey won the breaststroke for Northridge at 1:12.41, but Wawasee would take two-three-four in the event.
Sydney Boyer won the 100 free at 56.33 and Boyer, Hughes, Willey and August Hartzell won the medley relay at 1:58.55.
Wawasee heads into the tournament at Concord this Thursday and Saturday the hot team, but Northridge still are the team to beat, having won the past 12 conference tournament titles. Goshen (10-2, 5-2 NLC), which lost to Northridge by four points earlier in the season and to Wawasee by 40 Saturday, will also factor in heavily. Coach Robinson knows that still means something, despite the excitement Monday provided.
“We can’t sit back and coast into the NLCs, we have to keep working hard,” Robinson said. “We have to take Thursday down and get to Saturday. I don’t know if we have a target on our backs or not, we just have to go out and do what we need to do.”