INDIANAPOLIS – It hasn’t been the case all that often in recent years, but this year could be different. A slew of local boys swimmers could take the podium this weekend at the IHSAA Boys Swimming State Finals.

Warsaw and Wawasee will both have plenty of representation at the state prelims this Friday at IUPUI’s Natatorium, but so will a couple other schools in the Northern Lakes Conference in Northridge and Concord.

Possibly the best shot to get a finalist from the two Kosciusko County schools could come from Wawasee’s Logan Brugh, who enters the 500 free as a nine-seed (4:39.02) and the 200 free as the 11-seed (1:42.99). Brugh is swimming the two events for the second consecutive year, taking 22nd in the 500 and 26th in the 200 last February.

Both events will be loaded with local talent, particularly the 200, with seven swimmers from the area competing in prelims. Concord’s Stephen Krecsmar leads the quintet of Northridge Sectional qualifiers, sitting in fourth position (1:41.45) while Northridge’s Seth Cripe and Logan Elijah are fifth and sixth, respectively. Ridge’s Connor Glenn also qualified, as did William Serf of Bremen and Warsaw sectional champion Eli Pugh of Rochester.

The 500 will have Northridge’s Spencer Lehman leading the state heading into the weekend with his sectional-record time of 4:30.87, and Cripe coming in as the seven-seed. Glenn and Pugh are also qualified for the event.

Lehman is the top area seed in the individual medley at sixth, with Wawasee’s Brady Robinson entering his first state finals event coming in as a 15-seed with his 1:54.94. Ridge has two more in the event, with Camden Koch and Jesse Drake also alive as is Culver Academy’s Forrest Baumgartner.

“With them deciding they weren’t going to fully taper down, that was the goal that they both want to come back for a second swim,” said Wawasee head coach Julie Robinson of Brady and Brugh. “That is definitely their goal down there. I didn’t look at the 500, but the 2-IM had seven seniors in the top 16 last year, so we’ll see. If they go down and swim really well, fingers crossed, maybe we can get back for Saturday.”

Five events are peppered with Tigers, but the Warsaw contingent will have a lot of ground to make up to clinch a Saturday swim. Warsaw’s 400 relay (26, 3:17.48) and 200 relay (29, 1:29.57) are well off the pace of the top 16. Zach Taylor is 29th (55.75) heading into the backstroke, Matt Wildman 31st in the breaststroke (1:02.90) and Ethan Cook is 32nd for the 50 free (22.18). But unlike college football, rankings don’t distinguish state champions.

“For the state meet, the guys just have to go down there and treat it like another race,” said Warsaw head coach Tony DeBrota. “Don’t get intimidated. The pool might be a little bigger, but the lane lines and water is the same as anywhere else. It’s just you against the clock. It’s the same exact mindset and the same exact routine.”

Northridge has the four-seed in the 400 relay, five-seed in the 200 relay and nine-seed in the medley relay, as well as five more swimmers among the state prelim swims, as high as Camden Koch (6, 51.70) in the backstroke.

Krecsmar and Minuteman teammate Cameron Green are both eligible in the butterfly, and the Concord 200 and 400 relays are both among the top half of the draw.

Baumgartner is also alive in the fly, Columbia City’s Matt Webber and Serf in the 100 free as is Rochester’s medley relay.

Diving from the Mishawaka Regional had five area divers qualify for the state finals. Josh Richardson of Mishawaka Marian was the champion, with Goshen’s Hudson Kay second and Concord’s Dae’Quan Quinn third. Logan Brown of Elkhart Central and Teagan Stutsman of NorthWood also qualified.

Preliminaries begin at 6 p.m. Friday at the Natatorium, with the top 16 boys in each event qualifying for the consolation and championship finals Saturday, which begin at 1 p.m. Diving prelims will begin Saturday morning and conclude during the championship finals later in the day.