Brenna Morgan won two sectional titles Saturday afternoon for Warsaw. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

WARSAW — It was a very bittersweet day at the pool for the Tigers on Saturday.

The Warsaw girls swim team had to watch on as Culver Military Academy walked away with the sectional championship, but it was far from a lost meet as the Tigers qualified for state in seven events.

The youth movement was on full display for Warsaw in Saturday’s meet as Delaney Wihebrink and Laurel Moeller officially etched their names into program history by taking home individual titles.

Moeller swam a fantastic race in the 200 free  to start her day. The sophomore swam a 2:05.08 to beat out Marisol Karmel (2:06.36) of Cass. Moeller later took fifth in the 100 free (58.14).

Wihebrink was a double winner with wins in both the 200 IM and 100 back. The freshman won the IM with a nice cushion over CMA’s Cecilia Miller (2:18.04) with a final time of 2:13.99. In the back Wihebrink swam a 59.95 to beat out Erika Mullins of Logansport (1:04.95).

Warsaw’s small wealth of young talent was a welcome addition to the sectional meet this year. Last year it was mainly just the Brenna Morgan show for the Tigers. But don’t worry, the captain did her part this year also.

Morgan took first in both the 50 and 100 free and did it in style.

The junior won the 50 with a time of 23.55, besting her own sectional record of 24.07 set as last year’s meet. Freshman Olivia Herman (25.70) took third in the event for the Tigers.

Breaking a record was so nice that Morgan decided to do it again in the 100. Morgan clocked in at 50.80 to break the record of 52.33 that she set last year as well. But she participated in more record breaking throughout the day.

Warsaw started the meet with bang, or rather a break, as the 200 medley relay team set a new meet record. The team of Lauren Kuhl, Wihebrink, Morgan and Herman swam a time of 1:51.35, breaking a record set by Bishop Dwenger in 1994.

Herman, Moeller, Kuhl and Morgan teamed up to grab the sectional title for the 200 free relay with a time of 1:42.12.

Though missing out on the team title, claiming champions in seven events is certainly a good way to cap what has been a nice season for coach Tony DeBrota and company.

“It was addicting,” DeBrota began. “The success was very fun. Last year was definitely a building year. The girls we had last did the best they could and you couldn’t have asked for a better team in that regard. This year I wanted to see more success, you only get these girls for four years before they’re gone. When you’ve got girls like we have right now, you want to be able to utilize them as much as possible.

“I’m just very proud of where we are compared to where we were. It was an awesome year.”

The next step for these young guns is the IHSAA State Finals at “The Nat” and the pressure will be on. The pressure of the big stage is something Morgan is used to and she wants to make sure her teammates don’t crack under that pressure.

“It’s exciting that we’re sending so many girls down this year,” Morgan stated. “These girls going down with me have never been before so it will be a big deal to keep them focused. I’ll be working to keep them calm and focused because there’s a lot going on down there. We just all need to stay on target and worry about our times and I think we’ll be good.”

As for herself, Morgan knows she still has mental obstacles to hurdle as well.

“It’s a harsh meet,” said the junior. “I’ve definitely struggled mentally, it can be difficult down there. I’m just really focusing on blocking out that pressure this year.”

The qualifiers for the seven events will swim in the prelims Friday night with the top 16 finishers from each event returning for Saturday’s finals.