Ian Deming of Warsaw placed third in the prelims of the butterfly at the Warsaw Boys Swim Sectional Friday night.

WARSAW – Warsaw and Culver Academy have positioned themselves for another epic showdown in the finals of the Warsaw Boys Swim Sectional. The preliminary round, held Friday night due to the thick fog that closed Warsaw and most of the neighboring communities, saw the Tigers and Eagles send double digits into the finals.

Warsaw should be in great shape, landing 19 swims and all three relays but just Grant Knight a top seed along with its medley relay. Knight is in the middle lane in both the individual medley at 2:03.07 and is the clear favorite in the breaststroke at 58.97, and in both cases four seconds clear of the closest competitor. The Tiger medley posted a 1:45.71, but have company with Rochester within a second.

Forrest Baumgartner is setting himself up as the man of the meet, going 21.26 in the 50 free and 47.25 in the 100 free, both already at state cut times. Baumgartner is also part of the Academy’s top 400 free relay at 3:27.06, Warsaw sitting in third.

The Academy has just 10 individuals and three relays working in finals, but have most in the top half of races.

Columbia City doesn’t have the depth of Warsaw or Culver Academy, but will see five take top seeds into the finals. Matt Webber is the top 200 free swimmer at 1:52.11 and Ryan DeVito is tops in both the fly at 53.98 and 500 free at 5:01.64. Aaron Fix has the top backstroke at 54.95 and the City 200 free relay posted a 1:31.31.

Warsaw has Evan Borchers a two-seed in both the 200 and fly, Nick Bazzoni and John Deming are both alive in the breaststroke and the IM, Nick Zogbi is in the back and 500, Jacob LaLonde in the 100 and 200 frees, Alex Cook in the 50 and 100 frees, Zach LaLonde in the 50 and back, Ian Deming and Nate Taylor in the fly and Michael Ray in the 200. Warsaw’s 200 relay is seeded second and 400 relay is seeded third.

Tippecanoe Valley’s Chase Brower is facing his final crack to achieve his lofty goals, and is in position in the 50 free at 21.82 and second to Baumgartner, and third in the 100 free. Brower and the 400 free relay for Valley is seeded fifth and medley relay eighth. Daniel Alexander has the other Valley finals entry in the fly.

The Warsaw Boys Swim Sectional will return to business Saturday morning with dive prelims, and swimming will continue at 1 p.m. and include the diving finals. The top swimmer in each event, and any state cut qualifiers, will swim next weekend at the IHSAA Boys Swim State Finals. The top four divers will move to the Mishawaka Diving Regional Tuesday night.

Tippecanoe Valley’s Daniel Alexander qualified for the finals of the butterfly.