ELKHART — The water was salty. The space was cramped. The lights were too dark. The flash was too bright. There was very little about the trip to Elkhart Memorial that members of the Wawasee boys swim team enjoyed, but the Warriors still picked up their first win of the year with a 129-54 defeat of the Chargers.

Yes, the setting was far from what the visiting is used to. Memorial has a smaller pool area than what the Warriors usually deal with at Wawasee Middle School. It was dim, the water had a distinct saltiness and two photographers used flashes for the meet, occasionally blinding the swimmers during races. Despite being out of their comfort zone, the visiting squad still turned in a solid performance, winning 10 of the evening’s 12 events.

One important strength of this year’s team is the youth movement taking place. For the second time in as many meets, the underclassmen shined. Jared Krugman, a freshman, won his second race of his career with a strong performance in the 100 back. Krugman beat out teammates Jake Cowan (1:08.69) and Spencer Naugler (1:09.09) with a time of 1:03.37 to take first.

“Jared Krugman had an amazing 100 back,” said Wawasee head coach Julie Robinson. “Brady (Robinson) and him are both really good with their breaststroke, so we’ve been swapping them in and out. Jared also had another lifetime best in his 200 IM. He had a lifetime best in Warsaw and did that again here, so I’m just really impressed with him.”

Robinson, a sophomore, had another strong day as well. He won both of his events in Saturday’s meet at Warsaw and duplicated that effort with wins in the 200 IM (2:04.17) and 100 breast (1:04.87). It was Krugman that took second in the IM with a time 2:10.71.

Krugman and Robinson helped to get Wawasee two relay wins as well. In the 200 medley relay it was Krugman’s backstroke and Robinson’s breaststroke that started off the relay that would finish with Ethan Knepp (fly) and Logan Brugh (free). Wawasee’s B relay of Spencer Naugler, Jacob Krugman, Jake Cowan and Chase Ritter combined for a time of 2:01.28 to take second in the event. The A relay combination later won the 400 free relay for Wawasee with a time of 3:39.00.

Brugh continued the solid start to his senior season with wins in both the 200 free and 100 free. Brugh swam a 1:55.28 in the 200. Brett Willaman (2:03.06) and Isaiah Metcalf (2:14.20) respectively took third and fourth for the Warriors. In the 100 Brugh clocked in at 50.73 seconds. Knepp (55.78) and Aaron Troutman (1:01.00) provided the depth for the Warriors taking third and fourth, respectively.

Naugler, Metcalf, Ritter and Willaman helped Wawasee sweep the relays with a time of 1:46.69 in the 200 free relay.

The final two events won by Wawasee were the 100 fly and diving. Wawasee took the top three spots in the 100 fly with Cowan’s time of 1:05.00 leading the way. Naugler (1:05.99) and Metcalf (1:07.40) rounded out the top three.

Austin Dunithan (152.60), Brady Claassen (123.55) and Hunter Hlutke took the top three spots in the diving portion of the meet held at Concord High School.

“I think as a whole it’s nice seeing these young boys do different events,” said Robinson. “Like Aaron Troutman doing a 200 IM, or Isaiah Metcalf in the 100 fly. We’re trying to mix them up and see where we want to put them once conference and sectionals come around.”

Wawasee (1-1, 1-1) will swim at Concord next Tuesday.