Raiders Regain Form
MIDDLEBURY – After a historic Tuesday that saw the Northridge boys program lose in the Northern Lakes Conference for the first time in a generation, the Raiders got back to what it knows how to do.
Northridge won 10 of the boys races, using the top points to beat Wawasee 97-86 Thursday night at the Northridge Natatorium. The Raider girls had no trouble in remaining undefeated in the NLC, smashing Wawasee 143-43.
Concord ended Northridge’s 20-year win streak in the NLC Tuesday night in a one-point dual win, the first time since 1995 that Concord had beaten Northridge. Facing a Wawasee club that had just one loss coming into the night, Northridge put its 13 swimmers to the test and passed, not flying, but enough to get the job done.
In the top showdowns of the night, Nick Dibley squared off against Jared Krugman in both the 200 and 500 freestyles, with Dibley getting the best of both races. Dibley held off Krugman by a second in the 200 at 1:45.90 and came back to win more comfortably in the 500, going 4:48.75 to Krugman’s 4:53 and change.
Wawasee had just two other wins, Daegan Kingrey taking the 100 free at 51.21 and Wawasee claiming all 13 points in diving, led by Brady Claassen’s 228.55. Northridge does not have a male diver, so Wawasee got the full compliment with its participants.
On the girls side, Northridge was almost perfect. Lily Tyler had a runner-up swim in the individual medley and Ella Park was second in the 500. Otherwise, Northridge continued to dominate the girls circuit.
Notables for the Raiders included a 1:08.57 in the breaststroke from Haley Dygert and a blistering 4:56.45 in the 500 by Elsa Fretz, who continues to swim state-level times in nearly every event.
As both teams head to winter break, Northridge boys improve to 5-1 in the NLC and the girls 6-0 while Wawasee girls fall to 3-3 and the boys 4-2. Wawasee will return to action Jan. 5 at Goshen.