Finals Are Set For Swimmers Eying State
MIDDLEBURY – The stage is officially set for Saturday’s girls swimming sectional finals at Northridge High School.
11 teams gathered at Northridge’s natatorium Thursday night for the sectional preliminaries and, as expected, Saturday’s title will come down to Wawasee and Northridge. The Warriors will enter Saturday’s finals with 15 girls racing for sectional titles and seven racing in the consolation races. Northridge will have 18 in the finals and six in consoles.
Raider head coach Joe Keller was very pleased with what he saw from his girls at the prelims.
“I told the girls a couple of days ago that the only thing I’m interested in seeing is fast swimming,” started Keller. “Tonight, the girls that needed to be fast, they kept me interested.”
Raider swimmers Katie Hughes, Sydney Boyer, Lauren Miller, Sydnee Emerson all claimed top spots for Keller’s Northridge squad. Hughes in both the 200 free and 500 free. Boyer in the 50 and 100 free. Miller was tops in the 100 back while Emerson was tops in the 100 breast.
Northridge has won 11 of the past 13 sectionals. The Raiders fell short of the title in 2012 to Concord and last season to Wawasee. The Warriors fell short of repeating as Northern Lakes Conference champions, but that does not mean the sectional is out of the question.
Wawasee saw what it wanted to Thursday night, getting 22 total swimmers to Saturday’s meet. With 15 finals spots taken up by Warriors, there is a solid chance for the Wawasee to spoil Northridge’s home pool advantage.
Bre Robinson has been the focal point of Wawasee’s season and the senior secured her spot in the finals of both the 100 fly and 100 back. Robinson swam the top time in the fly with a 58.32. Joining Robinson in the fly finals will be Mikala Mawhorter while Kayla Hershberger will swim with Robinson in the 100 back finals.
The 100 back was Hershberger’s second punched ticket of the day as she secured a finals spot in the 100 free earlier along with senior Kendra Miller. Miller will also compete in the 50 free finals along with Mawhorter. Meghan Fretz will compete in the consoles of both the 50 and 100 free.
Miller’s younger sister, Paige also claimed her spots for Saturday’s finals. Miller claimed the top time in the 200 IM with a 2:15.63, edging out Ashley Schrock of Concord (2:15.70). Miller will also see the finals in the 500 free. Anna Park, a Warrior senior, claimed spots in both the 200 IM and 500 free finals.
Saturday’s 500 final should have one of the most exciting finishes of the day. Miller edged out Hughes in last year’s sectional final in the distance event in a thrilling finish. The two sophomores had an encore of that at the NLC Championships with Miller again edging Hughes in the final seconds.
Shelby Adams will compete in the final for Wawasee in both the 200 free and 100 breast. Adams holds the school record in the breast (1:10.48) but will need to top that time in order to qualify for next weekend’s State Finals. Hannah Winters also claimed a spot in the 100 breast finals, swimming right at her lifetime best in the event. Winters did swim a lifetime best to claim a spot in the consoles for the 500 free.
Madison McBride will swim in both the 200 free and 100 back consoles for Wawasee while Caitling Clevenger will compete in the 200 IM and 100 breast consoles.
All three of Wawasee’s relay teams qualified for Saturday’s finals, including the 400 free relay team which earned a top time of 3:53.13.
Outside of Wawasee and Northridge, Concord will also pose a threat in the finals. The Minutemen got 14 through to finals races and eight to consoles. The points that Concord may steal could be huge in determining how the final standings shake out.
All in all, Thursday’s prelims went how Wawasee head coach Julie Robinson expected them to.
“I thought we had a lot of girls swim at or near their lifetime bests tonight,” Robinson began. “It seemed like we came out a little flat in some of the races and then kind of built into their races. A lot of the girls swam very close to their best times, that was just good to see.
“Every time we come out we just go out and race as hard as we can and we’re just trying to have a good time. I think our girls set themselves up well. We’ll come back Saturday and hopefully have a little more fun.”
The stage is certainly set and both Robinson and Keller have their teams ready to go.
“From what I saw this week and from what I saw here tonight, we’re going to be exceptionally fast this Saturday,” stated Keller. “I’m pretty confident with that. Normally I might not be so bold but, from the things I’ve seen, these girls are ready to go.
“This senior class has only won one sectional title and that doesn’t really meet the standards of what we’ve done in the past. So, winning Saturday is going to be a big goal for our girls and they’ve put themselves in a position to win with their performances tonight.”
Sectional swimming and diving finals will begin promptly at 1:00 p.m. at Northridge High School. Diving prelims will take place at 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning.