Parkland sweeps Northampton
There is something about the water in Lane 4 at the Gwen Whildin Natatorium that swimmers from the Parkland girls team really like.
The Trojans used that lane to set three pool records as Parkland swept Northampton in boys and girls swimming. The Parkland boys won 114-72 and the girls took home a 137-49 win over the Konkrete Kids.
The first pool record of the night fell in the first event, the 200-yard medley relay. Sydney LaBaugh, Kelsey McPeek, Sophia Cerimele and Milla Hahn combined to finish in a time of 1:49.38, besting another Parkland team by just over 18 seconds to take the top two spots in the event. The Parkland 400-yard freestyle relay team set a new mark as well when Hahn, McPeek, LaBaugh, and Madison Roseman swam a time of 3:43.56 a full 28 seconds ahead of the second-place team, also from Parkland.
For LaBaugh, setting a record in the 500-yard freestyle gave her three record-setting swims on the night. With a record time of 5:13.39, LaBaugh finished nearly a full minute ahead of the second-place swimmer, teammate Mackenzie Platt, who finished with a respectable time of 6:12.26.
“It feels really good. It’s not something that I expected to do tonight or was even thinking about,” said LaBaugh, who is a freshman. “After that first relay, it was really exciting and then to do it in the 500 was amazing. In the last relay, we were just going out to compete and swim as fast as possible and we ended up getting three new records. It’s amazing.”
In the 50-yard freestyle, LaBaugh did not set any records, but she did take first, giving her at least a part of four firstplace finishes on the night. Hahn also had four first-place finishes, with two in relays and firsts in 100 and 200-yard freestyle individual events. Roseman had three first-place finishes by winning the 100-yard breaststroke and as a member of the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relay teams.
“I’m happy that we had some good races tonight. Both sides swam some of our off events or not our prime or top event, so it was good to see them getting out there and racing and really thinking about the things we worked on during the winter break,” said Parkland coach Allison McPeek.
The Parkland boys team did not leave with any pool records to its credit, but Jacob Piccini did leave with three firstplace swims. Piccini was a member of the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relay teams that won their event and then picked up another top time in the 200-yard IM.
Thomas Price had to wait patiently as he did not compete until the 200-yard freestyle relay, the 18th event of the night. He teamed with Piccini, Dannik Khais, and Doug Bell to finish with a time of 1:33.07 to win for Parkland. Price had a quick turnaround and came back in event 20, the 100-yard backstroke and finished a little over three seconds ahead of teammate Christopher Park. Five other Parkland swimmers — Dominic Faenza, Bell, Colton Chung, Dannik Khais and Ethan Coleman — also picked up wins in two events.
“We had a solid effort tonight and we were in off events, but it was still all around great races, so we did well,” said Price about the performance of the boys team. “I’m happy for our team because it has been a long time since the boys won the EPC and this takes us a long way.”
The highlight of the night for Northampton came in diving. Andy Szeplaki won the event with a score of 226.25 to edge out his brother, Alex, and finish just five points off the school record for a six-dive performance, which was set by his coach, Todd Lerch. On the girls’ side for diving, Isabella Kish took the top spot with a score of 200.85, besting Parkland’s Sam Schultz (189.00).
“Coach Lerch does a phenomenal job with our divers and Andy has been taking shots at his coach’s record, so that’s going to be fun to watch,” said Northampton coach Cullen Mentzel. “To get wins in diving for both teams against Parkland is an accomplishment and we’re proud of that.”
The Parkland boys are now 5-0 in both the EPC and overall, this season and handed Northampton (4-1, 5-1) its first loss of the season. Nazareth (3-0, 3-0) is the only other undefeated team in the EPC, giving Parkland an opening for its first boys title since the 20032004 season, which was also their last undefeated season. The Parkland girls are also 4-0 in the league and overall but have two other undefeated teams to battle. Easton (4-0, 5-0) and Nazareth (3-0, 3-0) could both mount a legitimate challenge to Parkland for the girls championship in the EPC.
“You always have to swim against Parkland, and you know it’s always going to be tough, but they really lit up the scoreboard tonight,” Mentzel said. “I’m proud of how we fought on both sides tonight. Our kids work as hard as anybody and they went out there fighting and we just couldn’t do enough to win.”
Mark up that calendar
The schedule has Emmaus at Easton next week, which will highlight a matchup between the Emmaus girls, whose only EPC loss is to Parkland, and the undefeated Easton girls team. The battle on the boys side will be a good one as well, with Emmaus putting their 5-1 league record against Easton’s 2-2 mark. Northampton goes up against Whitehall with the Kids having one loss and Whitehall having two in both boys’ and girls’ swimming. The Parkland and Nazareth showdown is set for Jan. 16 at Nazareth.