DUNLAP – Thursday night’s preliminary round of the Northern Lakes Conference Girls Swimming Championships provided little in the way of drama. But the sense of anticipation in what should be a very competitive final is building as the heavy hitters all are primed for Saturday’s final.

Prelim swims at Concord had the stars all put themselves in position for runs at individual titles while the team race should keep eyes glued to the scoreboard and pencils busy in the stands. As expected, regular season champion Wawasee – which finished undefeated at 7-0 in round robin swims for the first time since 1996 – placed its crop of swimmers in the final while Northridge, Concord and Goshen all will have a say in the matter, as well.

Wawasee managed to place every one of its individuals into at least the consolation round. Landing 17 swimmer and all three relays in the finals plus seven swimmers in consolations, Wawasee mathematically has a slight edge. Northridge and Concord both have 12 individuals and three relays working championship round swims while Goshen has 11 plus its relays. The Lady Redskins also have 11 consolation swims with Northridge at nine and Concord at four. All three teams, however, will have divers likely battling for top-five positions while Wawasee does not have a top-flight diver to send out.

Wawasee’s 200 free (1:48.40) and 400 free relays (4:00.35) both are top seeds heading into Saturday while Bre Robinson should have the inside track to two more NLC titles in the 200 free (1:53.84) and butterfly (57.84), both relaxed times nowhere near her seed times.

Lady Warrior head coach Julie Robinson, busy working the math tables immediately following the prelims, likes the position her team is in. Albeit an unfamiliar one.

“The kids all did really well tonight and they knew what we were trying to get,” began Robinson. “We got at least two kids into every final, three in the case of our breaststroke. Every one of my kids are coming back for a second swim. We set ourselves up very well for Saturday.”

Concord, which didn’t beat any of the other three contending teams during the regular season, is built more for tournaments and proved it with four top seeds. Ashley Schrock is responsible for two of them, in the individual medley (2:12.82) and breaststroke (1:10.58) while Mariah DeFreese posted the top backstroke time at 1:03.40. The Concord medley relay will get the middle lane Saturday after a 2:01.23 in what should be a tone-setting event to start Saturday’s finals.

Northridge has just one top seed, Katie Hughes in the 500 free (5:12.60) and should get heavy pressure from Wawasee’s Paige Miller, who beat Hughes head-to-head last Monday in the dual.

“I really like how we are set up for Saturday,” Robinson stated. “We have the opportunity to score big points just about everywhere, but the other three teams are going to be there as well. We just have to take it race by race like we have all season. It should be a lot of fun.”

Warsaw, which doesn’t have the depth to keep up in the team standings, will still have plenty to entertain. Most notable was the NLC introduction of Brenna Morgan, a speedy freshman who opened a few eyes with a 24.36 top time in the 50 freestyle and another big swim in the 100 free at 54.09. The prelim time in the 50 was just .41 off the NLC record set by Brittany Robinson in 2009 and no one was within a second-and-a-half of Morgan. Meagan Ronci of Goshen, another freshman, should push Morgan in the 100 final.

“I mean, you saw it,” chuckled Warsaw head coach Nate Long of Morgan’s 50 swim. “She wanted it, and she has been working very hard at it. When she swam club, she was swimming fast enough to break our school records. Now it’s pretty much every race she keeps lowering that standard constantly and she did it again today. Hopefully Saturday she’ll go faster, and break the record in the 100 as well.”

Warsaw in total has just five swimmers in individual finals plus its three relays, which placed seventh, fifth and seventh Thursday. Ashley VanWormer is one of the individuals in the breaststroke final, and could make a legitimate run after finishing just .60 off Schrock’s pace. VanWormer, who went to state in the breaststroke last February, is also in the consolation final of the individual medley. Cynthia Juarez, who was a surprise runner-up in the 500 a year ago, returns to the finals this year.

“Cynthtia is doing exactly what she did last year,” Long stated. “I know she was a little disappointed coming into today not being seeded where she wanted. But the mark of a good senior swimmer is to make it into the top eight. Now she has no pressure, we’ll see what happens.

“Ashley is another senior with the right attitude. She loves competition,” Long continued. “She is at a good time right now to be right there, but it won’t just be the two Ashleys with Nikki Willey of Northridge in there, too. It should be a nice race for the conference title.”

Diving preliminaries open Saturday’s long day of events at Concord, first dives set for 9 a.m. The swim championships commence at 1 p.m., which will have diving finals included in the 12-event championship.