SYRACUSE – Wawasee asserted itself that it’s back for another run as the Northern Lakes Conference girls swim conference season opened Saturday. Entertaining rival Warsaw at the Wawasee Middle School Natatorium, the Lady Warriors had no trouble in posting a 136-47 win over the Lady Tigers.

Shelby Adams of Wawasee stays ahead in the individual medley, part of a Wawasee sweep against Warsaw Saturday afternoon. (Photos by Mike Deak)

Wawasee were victors in 11 of the 12 events, and swept four events along the way. The Lady Warriors swept the medley relay and the 200 free relay plus the backstroke and individual medley.

Paige Miller, Shelby Adams and Bre Robinson all claimed two events and helped Wawasee claim the top spot in all three relays.

Miller was tops in the 200 free (1:54.65) and the 500 free (5:14.65) while Adams reigned in the individual medley (2:21.42) and breaststroke (1:13.78). Robinson took wins in the butterfly (57.24) and the backstroke (58.86).

Wawasee also had a win from Kayla Hershberger in the 100 free (57.64) and posted a 1:58.62 in the medley relay, 1:45.71 in the 200 free relay and 3:53.13 in the 400 free relay, all wins going away from the field.

“I thought we had a lot of good swims today from a lot of the girls,” said Wawasee head coach Julie Robinson. “Kendra (Miller) had a great 50 free and Paige swam really well in the 200 free going against Brenna (Morgan). It was nice to see where she was at against some quality competition.”

Hannah Rhoades also posted a big win in diving at 165.60, over 66 points better than Warsaw’s Izzy Heiden.

Warsaw’s lone victory came in the 50 free from Morgan, who rushed to a 25.11 to clip Wawasee’s Kendra Miller by a second in the final 10 yards.

Caitlin Clevenger of Wawasee works during the breaststroke against Warsaw.

The lopsided affair didn’t trouble Warsaw head coach Tony DeBrota too much, knowing it’s still very early for his young team, which evens up at 1-1 overall and 0-1 in the NLC.

“This makes me want to still move around who we can put where,” DeBrota said. “We are treating these types of meets when we are facing a team like Wawasee, we’re looking for optimizing that lineup. Today, the whole goal was to put people in the best position for them. It’s not always about winning every race. It’s about tweaking those lineups.

“We can’t take every meet with the same mindset, because the races are changing and will continue to change,” DeBrota continued. “Manchester isn’t Wawasee. And our next meet will be different from what Wawasee presents. So we just have to keep working, keep seeing who can do what for us.”

Warsaw will host NorthWood Thursday evening.

Wawasee (3-0, 1-0 NLC) continues to steady the course with a pair of big conference meets in the next 10 days in hosting Elkhart Memorial Tuesday and Concord Dec. 9, both barometer meets as the NLC begins to open up. Robinson felt her team is just taking things in stride as December approaches.

“We are just taking things one meet at a time, like we always have,” Robinson said. “We’re not really focusing on the teams that we have coming up, just on technique in practice and trying to prepare for every meet no matter who it is or when it is.”

Warsaw’s Laurel Moeller works during the breaststroke against Wawasee.