Wawasee’s Brady Robinson hits the wall during his championship performance in the individual medley at the Northern Lakes Conference Boys Swim Championships Saturday at Northridge. (Photos by Mike Deak)

MIDDLEBURY – The story seems to be repeating itself over and over again at the Northern Lakes Conference Boys Swimming Championships. The Northridge Raiders swamped the competition for the 18th consecutive year, stomping the field with 500 total team points. Concord made a go of it, scoring 433 to sit as runner-up once again while Wawasee’s Brady Robinson kept the family name relevant in the NLC world with Kosciusko County’s only event title.

Wawasee’s Jake Cowan swims with Ian Deming of Warsaw during the butterfly consoles at the NLC.

Robinson’s title came in the individual medley, where he entered as the top seed from the prelims and held firm to claim his first individual championship. The sophomore flew through the first three disciplines and held on to beat Northridge’s Camden Koch in the final 25 yards of the free to post a 1:56.12, a new Wawasee school record. The previous Wawasee record was 1:56.26, set by Tyler Wear in 2008.

Robinson, also the top seed coming in for the backstroke, could not catch Koch in the final sprint to the finish and took second. Koch came in at 53.95, Robinson at 54.17.

“My sisters were conference champions and living up to their names has been hard,” Brady Robinson said, whose older sisters Brittany and Breanna both won multiple NLC championships. “It’s a different feeling. Being in the stands watching them win is nothing like being down here winning. I’ll take this feeling all day long.”

Wawasee only had one other top-three individual, that being Logan Brugh in the 500. In what has become a broken record the past three years, Brugh along with Northridge’s Spencer Lehman and pick a second Raider have been top three in the event. Lehman won going away Saturday at 4:35.39, setting the meet record he created last year at 4:36.98. Ridge’s Connor Glenn was second at 4:40.68 and Brugh was third at 4:43.28.

Brugh finished fourth in the 200 at 1:45.35, with Lehman leading the way in meet record fashion again at 1:42.00, .78 ahead of his record from last year.

Wawasee’s 200 free relay (1:36.94) and 400 free relay (3:23.78) both finished third. Ethan Knepp had a consolation win for the Warriors in the 100 free with a time of 51.75.

“We came in with set goal times and watching them reach those goals was just awesome,” said Wawasee head coach Julie Robinson. “A lot were focusing on state cuts. Seeing Brady and Logan so close to those cuts at a conference meet, untapered, is exciting.”

Warsaw’s Adam Doyle takes off during the 100 freestyle at the NLC.

Warsaw lacked a title winner, but had plenty of reasons to feel good heading into the sectional season.

The Tigers had Ethan Cook finish second in both the 50 and 100 freestyles. In the crapshoot 50, Concord’s Nathan Rose hit the wall first with nearly the entire field on his heels at 21.99, Cook second at 22.19. Northridge’s Logan Elijah was first in the 100 at 47.79 with Cook hot on his trail at 48.59.

The Warsaw medley relay was second at 1:40.94 behind Northridge at 1:39.59, and Matt Wildman gave Warsaw its other top-three with his third-place swim in the breaststroke at 1:03.73. Jesse Drake of Northridge won the event at 1:00.47.

Warsaw, which had six swimmers barely miss the championship cut by placing ninth in Thursday’s prelims, had three hold course and claim consolation wins. Hudson Snyder dropped over three seconds off his time in the 200 to win at 1:51.30, Zach Taylor won the IM consoles at 2:05.55 and Kaleb Schneidewent finished ninth overall in the 500 free at 5:13.19.

“Unfortunately, Thursday played out the way it did, but we came in today with a new focus and showed we are capable of swimming better than what we did,” said Warsaw head coach Tony DeBrota. “We had to reiterate how important it is to swim hard at prelims after what happened. That will be said over and over heading into sectionals. You can swim your mind out on Saturday, but if all you can get is ninth place, that doesn’t help matters. But it was nice to see the kids bounce back.”

The Tigers, which finished the NLC season 5-2 overall, finished third with 335 points, placing behind the two teams that beat them head-to-head in Ridge and Concord. Wawasee, which was 4-3, followed suit by placing fourth Saturday with 277 points.

Concord’s Dae’Quan Quinn captured the diving title with 495.00 points, outdueling Goshen’s Hudson Kay’s 481.65 points. Quinn’s teammate, Stephen Krecsmar, won the butterfly at 51.80 and Minuteman head coach Tom Johnson was named Coach of the Year by his peers.

Northridge claimed titles in the 200 free relay (1:27.43) as well as the 400 free relay (3:13.00).

Northridge and Warsaw will each host sectionals on Feb. 18 and 20. Wawasee will compete at Northridge.

NLC Team Standings
1. Northridge 500
2. Concord 433
3. Warsaw 335
4. Wawasee 277
5. Goshen 207
6. Elkhart Memorial 125
7. Plymouth 87
8. NorthWood 82

Warsaw’s Evan Borchers swims in the butterfly finals at the NLC.