Wawasee’s Jake Cowan swims the 100 fly during Saturday’s invite. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

SYRACUSE — Saturday was a good day to be a Warrior. The Wawasee boys and girls swim teams held their annual invite and, for the second year in a row, both walked away with a trophy in the end. The boys cruised in their competition, putting up 338 points to the second place effort of 211 from East Noble. The girls, meanwhile, had 276 points, enough to beat out Rochester’s 239.

Things got started off on the right foot for Wawasee’s boys team as Austin Dunithan claimed first in diving. Dunithan posted a 179.85 to best Bremen’s Chase Carrico (173.50). Brady Claassen (171.40) took fourth for the Warriors while Dane Jenkins (152.50) was seventh.

Dunithan joined Jared Krugman and Brady Robinson as the only Warriors to take first place in Saturday’s invite. Krugman swam to first in both the 200 free and 500 free. The sophomore posted 1:52.28 in the 200 to beat Columbia City’s Matt Webber (1:53.13). In the distance event Krugman finished at 5:03.74, giving him plenty of cushion over City’s Ryan DeVito (5:11.21).

Robinson was named the 2016 Wawasee Invitational Outstanding Performer thanks to his pair of wins in the 200 IM and 100 breast. Robinson was head and shoulders above the competition in the IM, swimming a 1:59.12. Angola’s Nathan Bourne placed second in the IM with a 2:05.38. Robinson beat out Anthony Phan (1:03.30) of East Noble to win the 100 breast with a final time of 1:02.82.

Robinson, Krugman, Jacob Cowan and Isaiah Metcalf swam to first in the 400 relay, Wawasee’s only relay win of the day thank to a final time of 3:30.24. The Warriors were fifth in the medley relay (1:54.79) and second in the 200 free relay (1:38.16). The 200 free team was made up of Robinson, Krugman, Coawn and Brett Willaman.

Wawasee’s 400 B relay took eighth in the 13-team swim. The squad of Spencer Naugler, Eric Park, Collin Thomas and Jacob Krugman swam a 3:57.26, the fastest time of any of the B relays. The 200 free B relay team of Dunithan, Aaron Troutman, Alexander Mathew and Bryce Knepp made the podium with a sixth place time of 1:47.61.

The Warriors put sent two swimmer/divers to the podium in every event except the 500 and 100 free. Those depth points proved to be a big difference in the final scores.

Wawasee’s girls had a much more competitive meet as there was still shuffling to be done going into the final event. The Warriors led in total point going into the 400 free and would not leave anything to chance as they picked up their only relay win of the day with a winning time of 3:57.59 over East Noble’s 4:07.89.

That final race was close during the first leg as East Noble’s Naomi Guthrie finished with about a body length of space ahead of Wawasee’s Ella Park. But Alyssa Koch made up that distance by the time she resurfaced after diving in for the second leg. Koch was even with Hannah Guthrie of East Noble after the first turn and was well ahead of her by the second. Koch gave Wawasee a huge advantage, making things easy for closers Shelby Adams and Paige Miller.

Adams and Miller picked up the other four wins that Wawasee’s ladies earned on the day. Adams in the 200 IM and 100 breast, Miller in the 200 and 500 free events.

Adams swam a 2:21. 94 to win the IM and later a 1:13.08 in the 100 breast. Miller, who was named the Outstanding Performer for the girls invite, swam a 1:56.91 in the 200 and a 5:12.72 in the 500. Park was second in both of those freestyle events while Lizzy Brugh was fifth in the 500 for Wawasee.

Tippecanoe Valley’s Olivia Livingood.

Koch took second in the 100 back. THe only other second place finish of the day for Wawasee was in the 200 free relay. The team of Adams, Koch, Miller and Park swam a 1:48.11. Riley Kunkle started the day for Wawasee taking third in the diving portion of the invite. Kunkle earned a 148.40 in the event.

Tippecanoe Valley had one champion on Saturday as Chase Brower took first in the 50 free. Brower swam a 22.77 to beat out Bremen’s Carter Filchak (23.63). Brower later took third in the 100 free with a time of 51.77. Olivia Livingood had Valley’s top girls performance of the day as she took second in the 100 fly. Livingood swam a 1:07.64. Bremen’s Katie Yelaska won the event with a time of 1:06.43.

Valley’s 200 boys medley relay team of Daniel Alexander, Mason Stephens, Dakota Prater and Brower placed sixth (1:59.73). That was the only Viking relay team to make the podium on the day.

Tiphanie Hodge placed eighth in diving for the Vikings with a 118.10. Travis Shull was the top boys diver for Valley with his score of 138.80.