Danny Allen swims in his heat of the 200 free during Thursday’s prelims at Concord High School. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

ELKHART – At this point in the season, it’s all about doing your best. That is just what the Wawasee swim team did Thursday night in the prelims of the Concord Sectional.

The Warriors recorded multiple lifetime bests to advance to the finals in seven events on Saturday while securing 13 other spots in the consoles.

“Most of my boys came out here and swam lifetime bests tonight,” said Wawasee head coach Julie Robinson. “We’re just really happy with that. Saturday is really just going to be the icing on the cake for us. We’re just looking to go out and have fun and see if we can get a little faster.”

Wawasee locked up spots in the top-eight in four individual events and all three relays. Logan Brugh and Brady Robinson will be the focal for the Warrior swim program at the finals as both will compete in two individual events.

Brugh swam a 1:51.16 in the 200 free, earning him the fifth seed in the event. The junior’s forte is the 500 free and he also did admirably in that event, locking up the four seed with a 4:53.66.

Brugh’s goal is to make the state cut at the finals, time which he is within reach of but will need a solid swim to achieve.

“You can never expect anything at the sectional,” Robinson said of Brugh. “For Logan, he’s close. His times are really close to the state cut. We’re just going to have him go out and race the other kids and try to hit that time. That’s his goal.”

Brady Robinson qualified for the top-eight in both the 200 IM and 100 back. The freshman secured the five seed in the IM (2:04.84) and will be seeded fourth in the 100 back (56.75). Though making it to state is not out of the question for Robinson, his times are further away than Brugh’s creating a tough road for the freshman.

“Brady will have to come out here and have a miracle swim to get to state,” a lighthearted Julie Robinson remarked. “But, you know, never count him out. You just have to go out and race. At the end of the day you just never know.”

Robinson and Brugh also helped get Wawasee’s 400 free relay team into the finals for this weekend. Ethan Knepp and Logan Haessig completed the relay team that swam a 3:39.42, earning the four seed.

Haessig narrowly missed the cut for the finals in the IM. The senior will be the top seed in the consoles for the event with a time of 2:10.22. Isaiah Metcalf will also swim in the consoles for the Warriors. Haessig later secured a spot in the 100 fly consoles along with teammate Jacob Cowan. Knepp will swim in the consoles of the 50 and 100 free.

Chase Ritter will swim in the 100 free consoles with Knepp and also in the 100 breast alongside teammate Owen Donahoe. Donahoe, a junior, will also compete in the 500 free.

Senior Danny Allen will be the top seed in the 100 back consoles (1:00.89) as he missed the finals cut by fractions of a second. Allen will start his day swimming the 200 free consoles. Freshman Brett Willaman will join Allen in the back consoles.

Willaman, Donahoe, Cowan and Allen make up the 200 medley team that qualified seventh overall for the finals. Knepp, Haessig, Metcalf and Brugh qualified Wawasee sixth in the 200 free relay.

Diving prelims were originally scheduled for 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning but have been moved to start at 5:30 p.m. Friday night due to weather concerns. Mylon Betts, Tristen Atwood and Austin Dunithan will compete in the event for Wawasee.

Sectional favorite Northidge did not disappoint in the prelims. The Raiders secured seven top seeds and will have 26 total spots represented in the finals. Northridge has the top three times in the 200 free, 500 free and 100 back. The only event in which the Raiders do not have three swimmers in the finals (three is the maximum allowed) is the 50 free.

Finals are scheduled to start a 1:00 p.m. Saturday but that time could be changed. Any decision on a time change will be made by 12:00 p.m. Friday afternoon.