PREP BOYS SWIMMING: Northridge brings energy on path to title, Goshen's Moser stamps name on the record books.

Jan. 27—DUNLAP — If there was any doubt in the screams coming from both sides of the Concord Aquatic Center Saturday afternoon, Northridge head coach Seth Cripe cleared things up afterwards.

"It's still sinking in," Cripe, in his second year coaching the Raiders swim team, said after Northridge won the Northern Lakes Conference title for the first time since 2018. "I'm so proud of the boys. As a coach, this is great. As an alumni, it's even better. There's no word to describe it."

The Raiders boys team, aligned opposite of their cheering section, brought the energy all day. The last few events though could have only multiplied the decibels as teams stood neck-in-neck in the battle for the crown.

Northridge almost cost themselves with some drama carrying itself over from Thursday's prelims. The Raiders 200-yard freestyle relay team had DQ'd itself during the prelims, leaving points on the board for other schools to snatch up Saturday.

"We DQ'd the relay Thursday," Cripe said. "Everyone, the place is quiet. I didn't know if we'd even have a shot."

After the relay in the finals, four teams (Northridge, Wawasee, Concord and Warsaw) were within 30 points of each other.

The 100-yard backstroke resulted in the Warriors inserting themselves in first, just four and a half points in front of Northridge. The Raiders responded.

Cripe's trio of Sawyer Lehman (first, 57.87), Tim Blough (third, 1:01.91) and Madox Hembree (fourth, 1:04.66) were only split up by Concord's Ivan Blystiv (second, 58.38). It gave the Raiders a 30-point lead over the Minutemen going into the final event, making a conference title all but certain.

"The emotional ride that we've been on since Thursday," Cripe said following the Raiders second place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay, capping off the victory. "I said some things Thursday night to these boys that I don't normally say. They responded. They were in yesterday morning; thought we had a shot and came out today and we were loud. That's the Northridge I remember. We may not be the biggest but we're the loudest."

Just listening to the sideline, there was no mistaking the Raiders intent on one thing Saturday: stopping the Minutemen, who had won conference the last five years and took home the regular season crown this season. Concord and Northridge now will share the NLC title with the championship meet and regular season accounting for half of the title.

"It's something that I preach to the boys," Cripe said. "The goal is not this meet; this is just one step towards state. But it has been in their minds, it's been in mine. We haven't won in six years. The culture and what they do on a day-to-day basis mimics what it was like when I was here. The comradery, the accountability, the vision of wanting to achieve one goal, it's really awesome."

GOSHEN'S LEVI MOSER MAKES A SPLASH WITH NEW RECORD

Northridge's win was hard to top in terms of crowd noise, but there was another point Saturday that got a large response from competitors, coaches and fans alike.

Goshen senior Levi Moser had already placed his name on the RedHawks record book this season, knocking down the old record in the 50-yard freestyle. Saturday, he targeted a record set in 1996: the 100-yard freestyle.

Pacing the group and far in front of the competition, Moser tapped the wall at a time of 45.61, not only beating the school record by more than a second, but also setting a new pool and meet record in the process. The crowd responded justly.

"That's my favorite part," Moser said about hearing the ovation from the crowd after his swim. "It's so fun to cheer on other swimmers and it's great to be on the receiving end of it as well. It was awesome."

Adding on to what helped make it possible, Moser also took the time to speak about his team.

"It was really good, it felt really good," Moser said. "I've been trying to get at least the school record for a couple of meets now but it felt really good to swim that here. We've got a great team. I've loved swimming with everybody here and we've had fun, we work hard. It's just good; I love it."

Head coach Laura Rupp also spoke well of her lengthy senior.

"He has been motivated," the RedHawk coach said. "He's gone for the 100 a couple times and has gotten close to it. Everybody was cheering for him; everyone knew he was going for it."

Rupp was also on the receiving end of recognition Saturday. She joined Wawasee's Jason Scott and Warsaw's Tony DeBrota as conference coaches of the year.

She certainly wasn't expecting the honor.

"I'm shocked that I was up there," Rupp said. "I was not expecting that one. I mean, our guys have been doing well but as a team we're young and we're learning and we're not where we're gonna be, so I just wasn't expecting that right now."

With the conference meet out of the way, teams will get back to work and rest up for the boys swim and dive sectionals. The prelims begin Feb. 15 and the finals will take place Feb. 17. Concord, Goshen, Northridge, NorthWood and Wawasee will all be at the Elkhart sectional.

PREP BOYS SWIMMING

NLC Finals at Concord High School — full results included in the online story

Individual event winners:

1-meter diving: Ian Parrott (Warsaw, 442.05)

200-yard medley relay: Northridge (Evan Haney, Jeremiah Bekhterev, Sawyer Lehman, Tim Blough, 1:38.14)

200-yard freestyle: Levi Moser (Goshen, 1:44.13)

200-yard individual medley: Sawyer Lehman (Northridge, 1:57.80)

50-yard freestyle: Andrew Williams (NorthWood, 21.85)

100-yard butterfly: Nathan Harper (Wawasee, 51.43)

100-yard freestyle: Levi Moser (Goshen, 45.61) — meet, pool, school record

500-yard freestyle: Evan Haney (Northridge, 4:50.38)

200-yard freestyle relay: Goshen (Levi Moser, Levi George-Miller, Cooper Fish, Skye Steury, 1:30.94)

100-yard backstroke: Nathan Harper (Wawasee, 52.35)

100-yard breaststroke: Sawyer Lehman (Northridge, 57.87)

400-yard freestyle relay: Wawasee (Cade Garden, Ivan Meier, Zack Kryder, Nathan Harper, 3:17.96)

Team scores: Northridge (380), Concord (348), Wawasee (347.5), Warsaw (328.5), Goshen (257), NorthWood (241), Plymouth (104), Mishawaka (30)

NLC Coach of the Year: Laura Rupp (Goshen), Jason Scott (Wawasee), Tony DeBrota (Warsaw)

Reach Matt Lucas at 574-533-2151, ext. 240325, or at matt.lucas@goshennews.com.