Warsaw’s Evan Borchers extends his lead in a big win in the butterfly Saturday morning at Wawasee. (Photos by Mike Deak)

SYRACUSE – Just two days after all the turkey, all the stuffing, all the cranberry sauce, it’s a wonder people could move so fast. Really, the wonder would be how a host of swimmers would do in their first duals of the season in what historically has been a hotly contested rivalry. Warsaw and Wawasee put on a pretty good show Saturday morning in the Northern Lakes Conference opener for both clubs, duals the Tiger teams swept over the Warriors.

In the annual Thanksgiving weekend backyard showdown, Warsaw won eight of the 12 girls events and seven of the 12 boys events. Many of the expected stars shined in the A lanes, on both sides of the deck, leaving the two teams to fight it out for the extra lane points. Warsaw took the girls meet 96-88 and the boys meet 95.5-89.5.

Wawasee’s Kaia Manning reacts after setting a lifetime best in the 100 free against Warsaw.

In one of the star-studded matchups in the early going, the 200 freestyle had Warsaw’s Brenna Morgan and Wawasee’s Paige Miller matched up. Morgan, who is a six-time NLC freestyle sprint champion, got the better of Miller, who returns after making the event at state a season ago. Morgan swam a 1:55.80 to Miller’s 1:55.89, again putting that carrot out there for Morgan to consider the 200, an event she has swam during her junior season but not in the conference or sectional meets. Morgan also won the butterfly going away at 1:07.08 while Miller handily won the 500 at 5:11.23.

Warsaw’s Delaney Wihebrink took a pair of wins, going 2:21.67 in the IM and 1:04.30 in the backstroke, Olivia Herman won the 50 at 26.51 and Shelby Paseka topped the divers at 123.75. Warsaw won the medley relay at 1:59.61 and the 200 free relay at 1:45.94.

Shelby Adams gave Wawasee a win in the breaststroke at 1:13.53, and freshman Kaia Manning set a lifetime best in the 100 at 58.87, edging both of Warsaw’s top competitors by a half length. The Lady Warriors won the 400 relay at 3:55.94.

Wawasee’s Spencer Naugler gets along in the butterfly.

Noted Wawasee head coach Julie Robonsin, “The kids really don’t know what they are going to be competing against at the end of the year, so to have this type of meet now gives them an idea of this is where I’m at, and this is how we need to race. I’m really happy to see how a lot of them responded to the races today.”

Warsaw’s boys claimed all three relays (1:42.84 medley, 1:36.01 200, 3:32.13 400) to claim 24 valuable points for a team decimated by graduation losses from the past two seasons. Alex Cook pulled a double, taking the 50 (23.78) and 100 (53.34) and both Evan Borchers and Grant Knight had dominating performances in wins, Borchers taking the fly at 56.79 and Knight the breaststroke at 1:03.09 to give Warsaw some talking points as their season opened up.

“Oh yes it does,” remarked Warsaw swim coach Tony DeBrota on feeling good about beating Wawasee, noting it wasn’t Michigan-Ohio State (which was going on during the interview). “The girls took a little more pleasure in the win this year given they lost by a couple points to Wawasee last year. I felt like the girls were coming along well today. The boys have so many new faces, and we don’t have a big roster, so today was a new thing for a lot of them. But the bus ride home was a good one.”

Wawasee had Brady Robinson and Jared Krugman each pull a pair of wins, Robinson the IM (1:59.35) and the back (56.54) while Krugman had the 200 (1:52.93) and the 500 (5:09.55). Austin Dunithan won boys diving at 165.40.

Wawasee will host Memorial Tuesday while Warsaw will prepare for its home invite next Saturday.

Warsaw’s Delaney Wihebrink prepares to engage the wall during her winning effort in the backstroke at Wawasee Saturday morning.