It’s The Boys Turn To Step Up
With the girls championships out of the way, it’s now time for the boys to step up to the blocks and show their stuff on the big stage.
The boys swimming and diving sectionals are here, with qualifying starting on Thursday and championships concluding on Saturday
Here’s a look at what’s to come at both the Warsaw and Concord sectionals, where local teams will compete.
At Warsaw – Thu. 5:30 p.m.; Sat. 9 a.m. & 1 p.m.
The Tigers are the prohibitive favorites to repeat as sectional champs, and have eight of the 11 events frontlined in tiger stripes. All three relays are top seeds, and aren’t closely matched by anyone in any of the medley, 200 or 400 competitors. Nick Zogbi is the lead dog in two events, the individual medley (2:02.27) and the backstroke (55.85), but in both cases, someone else is right with him. Teammate Grant Knight is just off the IM pace at 2:02.85 and Aaron Fix of Columbia City is at 55.95 in the backstroke.
Knight has the top breaststroke time going away at 59.76, Evan Borchers (1:51.10) and Hudson Snyder are within .11 of each other to lead the 200 freestyle, and Snyder has the top 500 freestyle coming in at 5:00.16 to highlight the Warsaw top entries.
Tippecanoe Valley’s Chase Brower owns the top 50 free swim this season at 22.32 and is among the leaders in the 100 free at 50.33. Warsaw’s Alex Cook is a contender in both events. Borchers, Forest Baumgartner and Ryan Devito of Columbia City should put on a good show in the butterfly, Devito the top time at 55.83 and only .12 separates the three. City’s Matt Webber leads the way in the 100 at 49.65.
Warsaw is looking for its 10th straight team title and 18th overall.
“The boys have been working hard,” said Warsaw head coach Tony DeBrota. “I think we’ve turned a little bit of a corner with some of them in getting them to understand what’s expected, and what it takes to become champions. The NLC was a good measure for us, because if we want to compete at the state level, you’re going to see a lot of teams like Northridge.”
At Concord – Thu. 5:30 p.m.; Sat. 9 a.m. & 1 p.m.
All eyes will be on Northridge again as the heavy favorites to claim the team title for the 15th straight year.
The Raiders bring in eight top seeds, all three relays along with Spencer Lehman leading the way. Lehman, the defending state champion in the 500 freestyle, should command the race again with his 4:37.68 likely to be blown away after Saturday. The senior stud is also the top seed in the IM at 1:52.13, only Wawasee’s Brady Robinson is within reach at 1:56.22.
Also out front for the Raiders are Connor Glenn in the 200 at 1:45.22, Nate Dibley in the fly at 53.93 and Camden Koch in the backstroke at 53.64.
Concord has a pair of contenders leading the way, with Garrett Roberts in the 100 free at 49.54 and Kallaghan Findley in the breaststroke at 59.08.
Nathan Bourne of Angola paces the 50 free at 22.45.
Robinson is in contention in the fly with his 54.35 and teammate Jared Krugman is seeded fourth in the 500 (5:00.04) and fifth in the 200 (1:50.41). Wawasee’s 200 free relay is seeded fourth and its 400 free relay is third.
“It still boils down to us and working on what we can do about our times, not worrying about what everyone else is doing,” said Wawasee head coach Julie Robinson following the NLC in late January. “We know Northridge putting up some outstanding times, we just have to take care of ourselves and go from there.”
NorthWood isn’t in the top 10 in any event, but Jason McNeil could make a push for a championship swim in both the IM and the backstroke, where he is seeded 12th in both events. All three of NorthWood’s relays are seeded 10th going into Thursday.
State Standards for 2016-17
200 Medley Relay: 1:37.77
200 Freestyle: 1:42.97
200 Individual Medley: 1:55.14
50 Freestyle: 21.70
100 Butterfly: 51.39
100 Freestyle: 47.35
500 Freestyle: 4:41.32
200 Freestyle Relay: 1:28.12
100 Backstroke: 52.55
100 Breaststroke: 58.10
400 Freestyle Relay: 3:13.02