Warriors Put Up A Fight At Concord
DUNLAP – Concord did Concord things Tuesday night in the Northern Lakes Conference swim dual against Wawasee. Hidden in the results, however, were some eye-opening strides made by the visitors.
CONCORD GIRLS 129, WAWASEE 57
Concord won 10 of the 12 events, but were pushed to the brink in four others in some great ‘A lane’ matchups.
Wawasee’s Alexis Mishler went head-to-head against a pair of Concord state swimmers and nearly claimed a pair of wins. In the 100 freestyle, Kiran Stauffer used a late push in the final 15 yards to touch at 54.53, .16 clear of Mishler’s lunge at the wall. In the backstroke, Mishler held a slight lead through 60 yards, then made the final turn a shade in front of a charging Grace Brenneman. As the two neared the final 10 yards, Brenneman made a final push and got to the wall at 1:00.22, one-one-hundredth faster than Mishler.
A pair of duels to the wall in the 50 free saw Concord beat Wawasee, but showed the Lady Warriors can hang with the Minutemen. Audrey Lantz won the race for Concord at 25.33 but had Wawasee’s Kiah Farrington on her heels at 25.82. The battle for third saw Bella Sponseller touch at 26.78, two-one-hundredths faster than Wawasee’s Cammy Kryder. Mishler, Kryder, Farrington and Rileigh Atwood were just 1.5 seconds behind Concord’s medley relay win of 1:53.37.
Atwood had a win in the breaststroke, going away at 1:10.90, and Ella Park claimed the 500 without much opposition at 5:34.27.
“Both Alexis and Kiah are really hard workers and might have surprised some of the upperclassmen with their work ethic,” said Wawasee girls swim head coach Andy Kryder. “Both are willing to go the extra step. You’re going to see some really impressive swims out of those two. I’m excited to see them continue on this path.
“The girls swam really well as a whole,” continued Kryder. “Coaching club against Concord, I knew what to expect from them. I was pleased with our girl’s attitudes, their effort. This is a tough team to swim against, they will force you to work harder or they will leave you behind. I was proud to see our girls keep pace with a quality program.”
Concord made statements in sweeps of the individual medley, diving and the 400 free relay.
CONCORD BOYS 118, WAWASEE 65
While the whole of the races weren’t nearly as competitive as the girl’s showdowns, the boys duals saw some times fit more for the end of the January than the beginning of December.
A fun showdown in the 100 free saw Concord’s Hayden Gill hold off Daegan Kingery at 50.42 to 51.50 while the two were part of a spirited 400 free relay to close the night. Concord’s Will Harris finished off a 3:28.66, using a 22-second first half split in his anchor leg to hold off Kingery, who teamed with Nate Kryder, Karlson Hand and Bryce Knepp for a 3:31.51.
Harris defeated Karlson in the backstroke by two seconds with a 1:00.94. Wawasee pulled a pair of wins, with Kryder and Hand going one-two in the butterfly, Kryder at 57.59, and Alex Troutman held off Derek Angel for a half-second win at 1:06.75.
“I think we are right where we need to be,” said Wawasee boys swim head coach Jason Scott. “We’re tired and sore but we put together some really good swims. We had some silly mistakes on turns and breakouts that we can fix and drop even more time. I’m extremely ecstatic with how we got out and raced tonight.
Added Scott, “It was nice to see some of those times and races this early in the season. Karlson had a heckuva split in the final relay (25.13/53.66), I think he dropped a whole second-and-a-half and he just had a good meet all-around.”
Wawasee will host its boys invite on Saturday then both teams will visit NorthWood next Tuesday.