NLC Offers Up All-Conference Swimmers
GOSHEN – As the girls begin prep for the IHSAA State Finals in swimming this weekend and diving loads the buses today for their regional, the Northern Lakes Conference released its official lists for the boys and girls All-NLC honors.
The girls wrapped up its conference tournament Jan. 12 at Concord, with Northridge sweeping the regular season and postseason ledgers. The Raiders had Haley Dygert, Elsa Fretz, Ingrid Fretz, Jenna Nethercutt, Kaitlin Simons, Emma Lehman, Kenzie Weber and Jiselle Miller all earn All-NLC while Caitlin Clark and Anna Yeater were Honorable Mention All-NLC for the undefeated champs.
Concord (6-1) had Grace Brenneman, Olivia Trout, MaKayla Miller and Kiran Stauffer named All-NLC and Sophia Trout and Jillian Dawson as Honorable Mention All-NLC. Coach Tom Johnson, along with Goshen coach Barrett Younghans, were named Co-Coaches of the Year.
Finishing up the All-NLC list for the girls were Delaney Wihebrink of Warsaw, Ella Park of Wawasee and Rachel Terrell of Elkhart Memorial. On the Honorable Mention list were Rileigh Atwood of Wawasee, Taylor Gunter of Warsaw, Avery Bontrager of NorthWood and Zoe Eichorn of Goshen.
Warsaw (5-2), Wawasee (4-3), Goshen (3-4), Plymouth (2-5), Memorial (1-6) and NorthWood (0-7) wrapped up the girls standings.
The boys had Concord run the table for clinch the title, ending Northridge’s two decade grip on the NLC. Concord went 7-0 in the regular season then upended the field Jan. 26 at Northridge in the conference championships to win the title outright for the first time since 1995. The Minutemen were led by All-NLC nods to Kal Findley, Matt Bond, Will Harris, Aaron Leas, Hayden Gill and Jesse Sullivan. Johnson was named boys Coach of the Year.
Northridge (6-1) had Luke Dibley, Nick Dibley, Tristin Bratt, Joey Garberick, Turner Koch and Michael VanCoppenolle named All-NLC and Dylan Piehl as Honorable Mention All-NLC.
The other All-NLC selections were given to Caden Jenkins of NorthWood, Alex Ramos of Goshen, Jared Krugman of Wawasee and Warsaw’s Alex Cook and Grant Knight. The Honorable Mentions included Memorial’s David Welles, NorthWood’s Jason McNeill, Wawasee’s Daegan Kingrey and Warsaw’s Nick Bazzoni and Zach LaLonde.
Wawasee, Warsaw and Goshen tied for third at 4-3, followed by Plymouth (2-5), NorthWood (1-6) and Memorial (0-7).