Wawasee senior Logan Haessig will look to make his mark at the Northern Lakes Conference Boys Swimming Championships at Concord this weekend. (Photos by Mike Deak)

DUNLAP – The second season has begun for the boys swim teams in the Northern Lakes Conference, and one of two things will happen. One, the perennial favorites will sweep all the events, making the meet predictable. Or, two, someone is going to have to have a meet to remember to upset what is shaping up to be an alpha-dog NLC Championship.

Take a wild guess what team is favored to win it all? Yep, Northridge is looking for its 17th consecutive NLC title and is the prohibitive favorite after a dominant 7-0 round robin sweep of the conference duals. No team was within 70 points of the Raiders in any of the duals, and for good measure Ridge posted wins against northern state powers Chesterton and Penn, both legit state contenders.

Northridge can and will get big points and placings from over a dozen of its swimmers. Look for eye-popping times from Spencer Lehman, Jeremy Burbrink, Jesse Drake, Seth Cripe, Logan Elijah, Camden Koch, Chayton Friesen and Lucas McLain. Really, most of coach Joe Keller’s No. 3-ranked roster could be listed, but until Keller formally places his versatile swimmers into events, predicting where they could succeed would pose useless.

Jayden Parrett of Warsaw will be one of the favorites in the backstroke.

The one showdown Northridge may have had in the NLC never happened when Warsaw had a bulk of its power swimmers suspended for the dual in December. The Tigers pose the biggest threat to Northridge, not necessarily in the team standings, but in taking event wins from the Raiders. And don’t think Warsaw, which still finished 6-1 in the NLC, is intimidated by Northridge as they have swimmers that can keep up.

Spencer Davidson and Jayden Parrett are two solid bets to reclaim NLC titles. Parrett has been a standout in the backstroke and Davidson in the breaststroke, and the two have also provided Warsaw with speed freestyles. Davidson can swim with the leaders in the 50 freestyle and Parrett has posted one of the top 100 freestyle times in the state in the last year. The two, along with combinations of Josh Miller, Zach Taylor, Matt Wildman, Ethan Cook and Husdon Snyder, have built formidable relays in the medley, 200 and 400 frees.

Miller and Taylor have improved dramatically from a year ago, while Wildman and Cook have stepped forward to become frontline swimmers for the Warsaw program. Josh Cardin, Matt Hasting and Kaleb Schneidewent have all given Warsaw depth, which will come in handy at the NLC.

“We’ve been swimming with a lot of purpose of late, and I feel pretty good about where we are,” said Warsaw head coach Tony DeBrota. “These guys know how good Northridge is, and what it takes to excel in a conference meet. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do.”

Wawasee is looking to build for the future in many cases. The small and primarily young team managed a 4-3 NLC mark and have several individuals looking to make a name for themselves.

Wawasee’s Logan Brugh will attempt to surprise his way to a win in the 500 freestyle.

One who made a little noise at the 2014 NLC was Logan Brugh, who set a school record in the 500 freestyle last year and is looking to repeat the feat again this year. Brugh has been perhaps the most consistent swimmer for Julie Robinson’s club this year, and could be a sleeper in the 200 freestyle as well.

Brady Robinson has also been a standout for the program as a freshman, but has been swimming events loaded with seasoned stars in the individual medley and breaststroke. Robinson isn’t quite ready to usurp Davidson in the breaststroke or Northridge’s A-listers in the IM, but look for him to make a run in Saturday’s finals.

Wawasee’s remainder will need career days to break into the top-three of any event, but coach Robinson isn’t too worried about ribbon color on the podium.

“As usual we are just coming in and focusing on our swims,” Robinson said. “This will be a great preview of sectionals for Logan (Brugh), Brady, and Logan (Haessig). I think Logan Brugh is very excited for this week and is really just focusing on racing and seeing where he stands at this point in the season before sectionals.”

Elsewhere in the NLC, Concord does have a few frontliners to keep with the Joneses, notably Stephen Krecsmar, Alex Mark and Andrew Hinds. Branden Macklem has been a consistent leader for Memorial while Mitchell Walters gives Goshen a nice speed swimmer.

The NLC Championships will begin with preliminaries Thursday evening at Concord, a 5:30 p.m. start. Finals will resume Saturday at 1 p.m., also at Concord, which will include the morning and afternoon diving finals.