Emmaus, Parkland boys are headed for district showdown
Trojans coming off sweep of the EPC dual-meet crowns
The Emmaus boys swimming team showed improvement through out the season. Coach Tim O’Connor likes to fill up the schedule with high-profile invitationals and tough non-EPC teams like Wilson West Lawn to give his swimmers a gauge of where they are at compared to other teams.
The Green Hornets took their hits in some of those meets but came out the other side better for it. Emmaus and Parkland met just before Christmas and even then, swimmers from both teams were talking about the battle between the two rivals at districts.
The Emmaus and Parkland showdown should play out again this season on the boys’ side at districts, but don’t count out teams like Northampton, who could serve as a spoiler.
On the girls’ side, where do you start with Parkland? Senior Sophia Cerimele, junior Kelsey McPeek, and sophomores Milla Hahn and Sydney LaBaugh figure to make some appearances on the medal stand at districts.
Trojans sweep EPC crowns
The Parkland boys swimming and diving team captured its first league title since 2004 and completed a perfect dual-meet season by beating Liberty in the season finale.
The Parkland girls also finished undefeated in the EPC with a win over Liberty, giving the Trojans five straight conference championships and six out of the last seven.
The Emmaus boys and girls teams finished second, both with 8-1 records in the EPC with their only losses coming against Parkland.
In the boys’ ranks, Northampton and Nazareth both finished 7-2, but the Konkrete Kids get the edge in the standings thanks to their win over the Blue Eagles. Whitehall put together a strong season and finished 6-3 with a 93-77 win over Easton on Tuesday.
For the girls, Easton also finished 8-1, but finished third because of a loss to Emmaus. Nazareth finished 7-2 and Northampton rounds out the top five at 6-3.
Super duos
Whitehall improved thanks to two of the better swimmers in the area in seniors Aaron Stinner and Ian Thomas. Between them, the Whitehall record book looks much different than at the start of the season. Thomas just reset his personal best in the 50-yard freestyle Tuesday against Easton with a time of :21.54 and Stinner is ranked fifth in the EPC by SwimCloud.
Liberty has a solid duo in Malcolm Collins and David Gabrielle. Collins and Pocono Mountain West’s Carter Mui will likely battle at districts for the gold in the 100-yard breaststroke. Mui took it last season when he bested Collins by :00.10 with Thomas :02.62 behind Mui.
Emmaus has three swimmers to watch in Logan Shriver, Andersen Borst, and Griffin Messenlehner. On the girls’ side, the Hornets are also strong with both Gloria Klees and Georgia Magditch ranked in the top 10 swimmers in the EPC.
For Parkland, at any meet there are any number of strong swimmers to emerge. Freshmen Dom Faenza and Jacob Piccini showed their mettle during the season and might show their medal at districts. They won’t be intimidated and Pedro Teran and Michael Toth are two of those guys who cam rise up at any point.
The Nazareth girls had a big season thanks in part to the tandem of Kyla Spengler and Ava Palochik.