Warsaw’s Alex Cook makes his way back to the wall during the 400 free relay Wednesday night in a quad hosted by the Tigers. (Photos by Mike Deak)

WARSAW – A long break from school for swim teams during the Christmas holiday didn’t mean no workouts. A quad Wednesday night hosted by Warsaw saw teams from Tiger Town, Tippecanoe Valley, Rochester and Huntington North gather for a meet while school is still technically on break around the area. Coaching staffs noticed tired souls in a sweep by Warsaw in both boys and girls quads.

In a meet built for experience for girls clubs that are prepping for conference tournaments on the horizon and holiday work for boys programs, Warsaw had a fight on its hands with Rochester in the girls ranks while the Warsaw boys won its three duals comfortably. Swimming without an injured Brenna Morgan, Warsaw narrowly escaped Rochester 195-192, with Huntington North scoring 99 and Valley scoring 59. The Tiger boys posted a 220 to cruise past Rochester’s 157.5, Valley’s 104 and Huntington North’s 38.5.

Tippecanoe Valley’s Camden Tucker pushes in the 100 freestyle.

The Tiger boys won six of the 12 events, using top flights from Evan Borchers in both the 200 free (1:55.24) and butterfly (56.61) and used his talents in both the medley relay (1:45.94) and 400 free (3:36.02). Nick Zogbi took honors in the individual medley at 2:09.60 and the Warsaw 200 free relay won at 1:39.88.

Warsaw’s girls had a much bigger challenge on its hands from Rochester, where Maddy Sailors and her wrecking crew gave a wake-up call to the upcoming sectional hosts the Zebras are legit. Sailors won the 50 (25.12) and the 100 (56.61), albeit two events Morgan has dominated for the past four years. Morgan was in street clothes during the meet as she mends an injured shoulder. Sailors helped Rochester to a 1:59.59 win in the medley relay and a 4:02.20 win in the 400 free relay.

Warsaw picked up the slack with two wins from Lauren Moeller in the 200 (2:08.67) and the breaststroke (1:15.96) and a pair from Delaney Wihebrink in the IM (2:18.02) and the backstroke (1:01.58). The two were among the 200 free relay winners (1:48.25). Lauren Kuhl had a win in the 500 (5:50.34) and Shelby Paseka gave max points in diving at 123.30.

Warsaw’s Dineli Prestigun cheers on a teammate during the 200 free relay.

“We had a lot of kids that swam best times, and we did a lot of work over Christmas break,” said Warsaw head coach Tony DeBrota. “We had some kids kind of struggle getting back into it today. But I definitely like where we are. This meet helped us answer a lot of questions on how we want to formulate our conference and sectional lineups. Tonight and Saturday with Concord will give us most of those answers.”

Tippecanoe Valley had three wins in the boys ledger, two from Chase Brower in the 50 (22.68) and the 100 (51.25) and a diving win from Travis Shull at 149.80.

Valley was only as high as third place in five other events, which added to the head shaking from head coach Matt Craig.

“You can tell which kids came to practice and took it seriously over Christmas break, and the ones who didn’t,” Craig noted. “Chase Brower won the 50 and the 100, he’s taking things serious and has some goals. He’s getting faster and looked pretty good today.”

Rochester had three boys wins, Mason Beall taking the 500 (5:16.02), Mason Brady in the breaststroke (1:06.55) and Jeff Ruppert in the backstroke (59.21). Huntington North’s Allie Aschliman claimed the girls butterfly at 1:04.69.

“At this point, I’m more concerned with yards,” DeBrota said. “I don’t want kids swimming just to swim. We should have the right mindset by now, coming in from Christmas break. The girls showed they have some drive, and Rochester pushed them quite a bit. We’ll have to worry about them in a few weeks at the sectional.”

Tippecanoe Valley will take on Rochester in a head-to-head dual on Tuesday at Rochester while Warsaw will host Concord in its final Northern Lakes Conference match this Saturday.

Tippecanoe Valley’s Alivia Taylor, complete with her diving routine etched on her leg, waits her turn in the 200 free relay Wednesday night at Warsaw.