Warsaw’s Christina Park swims the 200 free during Thursday’s prelims. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

MIDDLEBURY – The Northridge High School Natatorium was rocking Thursday night as swimmers from around the Northern Lakes Conference gathered for the prelims of the 2015 Girls NLC Championships.

Local squads Warsaw and Wawasee participated in the evening’s events and both left feeling good after solid showings in the prelims.

“Honestly, I thought everyone had great swims tonight,” remarked Warsaw’s head coach Tony DeBrota.

That result was maybe better than expected for DeBrota who told his team in the time leading up to the meet that gaining experience was the main objective.

Warsaw’s Jess Haines

“Our goal was to get everyone experience for the sectional and to get into that championship mindset,” DeBrota added. “We have a lot of freshmen on the team that aren’t aware of how high school championship meets are run. Not only did a lot of those girls step up to the challenge, but they also dropped times.”

Though Brenna Morgan was the only Lady Tiger individual that qualified for the finals in her events, seven others will be swimming in Saturday’s consolation races.

Morgan made waves, figuratively and literally, by placing first in both of her races. Morgan will be seeded first in both the 50 free (24.67) and 100 free (52.81) Saturday afternoon.

Warsaw’s Karly Poyner

“I was really happy with Brenna today,” DeBrota said. “She did a great job in both of her individual events and dropped time. That was great to see. The same with Karly Poyner. She dropped five or six seconds in both of her events. Laurel (Moeller) also looked good, we’re excited for her to swim the breast stroke at finals. It was just a real good showing across the board for us.”

Moeller (1:20.96) will compete in the consolation heat of the breaststroke along with Poyner (1:23.82). Lauren Kuhl qualified for the 100 back as she got into the top 16 with a time of 1:14.00. Jess Haines (1:14.80) will also compete with Kuhl in the 100 back. Haines also claimed a spot in the 500 free (6:01.82) along with Erin Sandberg (6:06.08) and Savannah Taylor (5:55.95). Taylor also secured a spot in the 200 IM with her time of 2:31.55. Sandberg (1:09.20) and Allison Thompson (1:15.74) both qualified for Saturday’s 100 fly consolation.

Warsaw’s 200 medley relay team will be seeded fifth Saturday while the Lady Tigers will be seeded fourth in the 400 free relay.

Good news and great feelings were abundant Thursday evening. As good as DeBrota and Warsaw felt, Julie Robinson and the Wawasee swim girls may have felt even better.

“Most of my girls had lifetime bests today,” began an ecstatic Robinson. “The list really goes on and on. They all swam so well today. I saw exactly what I wanted to from our girls today. They just kept dropping times like crazy.”

Wawasee will be seeded first in Saturday’s 400 free relay finals. The team of Kendra Miller, Madison McBride, Paige Miller and Shelby Adams clinched the top spot with a prelims time of 3:58.90.

Wawasee’s Caitlin Clevenger

Though the 400 free was the lone top seed that Wawasee laid claim to, the Warriors will have a big presence in every race.

Adams earned a top-four spot in Saturday’s 200 free finals (2:05.26) and the fifth spot in the 100 breast finals (1:12.41). Hannah Winters (1:16.24) will also be in the 100 breast finals with Caitlin Clevenger competing in the consolation race. McBride and Lizzie Brugh will compete in the consolation race of the 200 free.

Clevenger used a personal best in the 200 IM (2:25.55) to grab a top-eight spot along with teammates Anna Park (2:21.50) and Paige Miller (2:15.14). Miller will be seeded third in the event but the sophomore will be seeded second (5:16.82) in the 500 free. Park claimed the sixth spot in the 500 with a time of 5:41.96, while Winters will be in the consolation race for the distance event.

In the 50 free it will be Mikala Mawhorter, a Warrior sophomore, and Kendra Miller, a senior, carrying the load for the Warriors. Mawhorter clocked in at 25.48, good enough for the fifth seed while Miller was close behind, securing sixth, with a time of 25.57. Meghan Fretz will swim in the consolation race for the Warriors.

Wawasee’s Anna Park

Mawhorter will join senior stud Bre Robinson in the 100 fly finals. Robinson clocked in at 59.73, second to Northridge’s Melissa Bailey (59.21). Mawhorter will be the number four seed (1:03.42). Brugh will swim as the 13th seed in the consolation race. Robinson later finished second in the 100 back with a time of 1:01.36 while McBride qualified for the finals with a time of 1:05.21.

The elder Miller will swim as the sixth seed (55.52) in the finals for the 100 free while Kayla Hershberger will be in the event’s finals as the seventh seed (55.73). Fretz will represent the Warriors in the consolation race.

The Warriors will be seeded fourth in the 200 medley relay. No results were given for the 200 free relay for any team, once those are sent in they will be posted.

Saturday’s finals begin at 9 a.m. with the diving portion of the championships. Once diving is concluded, the natatorium will be closed for a short period and reopened at noon for the swimming portion.