Record Breaking Night Kicks Off D11 Swimming Championships for Parkland

With an electrifying atmosphere and a packed Parkland High School natatorium, day one of the District XI AAA 2024 Swimming Championships kicked off on Friday night. The athletes and fans were loud, energetic, and excited. With lots of anticipation and high expectations coming into this meet, night one did not disappoint. Each swimmer had worked incredibly hard over the 23-24 season to get to this moment and they were all ready to showcase what they worked for.

Before Friday’s swimming portion of the championship was the diving. On Saturday, February 24th, the divers got to play their part for their teams in Emmaus High School’s natatorium. The top four results for the girls were as follows: Hayden Taylor with 402.50 points (Freedom), Isabella Kish with 345.70 points (Northampton), Johanna Cook with 334.95 points (Parkland), and Sam Schultz with 334.05 points (Parkland). The top four results for the boys were as follows: Bradley Kunz had 370.10 points (Parkland), Cody Smith had 368.55 points (Freedom), Alex Szeplaki had 353.90 points (Northampton), and Andrew Szeplaki had 346.80 points (Northampton). The divers put on an impressive show for their fans and will be sending Taylor, Kish, Kunz, and Smith to states in two weeks.

On the girls’ side, as of Friday night, Parkland is in the lead with a score of 264, Emmaus is in second with a score of 219, and Southern Lehigh is in third with a score of 155. Friday’s session consisted of events 3-14. The meet began with the 200 medley relay, which got the crowd and athletes on their feet. As always, the relays are an exciting race to watch. Parkland placed first with a time of 1:44.04, and consisted of freshman Sydney LaBaugh, sophomore Kelsey McPeek, senior Sophia Cerimele, and sophomore Milla Hahn. The relay managed to break three records in one race, the school record of 1:46.32 and the pool/district record of 1:45.02. Emmaus placed second after Parkland, then Southern Lehigh and Liberty followed in third and fourth.

The 200 freestyle winner was Victoria Kuteras (Pocono Mountain East, Jr.) with a time of 1:57.92 followed by Mabry Krause (Emmaus, Fr.), Mia Baldwin (Emmaus, Sr.), and Cami Johnson (Southern Lehigh, Fr.). In the 200 IM, Cerimele took gold in a time of 2:03.31 to just beat the school record of 2:03.33 and replaced the district record of 2:03.74. Her teammates Hahn and McPeek followed in second and third with Georgia Magditch (Emmaus, Sr.) in a close fourth. Anna Kirby (Stroudsburg, Jr.) placed first in the 50 freestyle with a time of 24.18. Behind her was Brianna Wasem (Southern Lehigh, Sr.), Ava Palochik (Nazareth, Sr.), and Sovannary Taylor (Easton, Sr.). The last individual event of the night was the 100 fly, where Kseniia Luniushina (East Stroudsburg South, Sr.) finished first in a time of 54.31. Luniushina was followed by Cerimele, Hahn, and Isabelle Johnson (Southern Leigh, Sr.).

To finish off the night for the girls, we got to watch an impressive 200 freestyle relay race. The team that took gold was Parkland in a time of 1:38.83, the second relay win for the Lady Trojans, and consisted of Mcpeek, senior Madison Roseman, junior Julianne Zaffiro, and LaBaugh. Emmaus finished in second, Liberty touched in third, and Easton came in fourth.

On the boys’ side, as of Friday night, Parkland was in the lead with a total of 277 points, Emmaus was in second with 264 points, and Nazareth was in third with 141 points. After the exciting girls’ medley relay, we continued on to watch an impressive boys’ medley relay. Nazareth placed first with a time of 1:35.87, sophomore Ian Barrey started off the relay and was joined by senior Leo Quaranta, senior Cole Coffman, and junior Patrick Leach. They were followed by Liberty, Emmaus finished third, and Parkland took fourth.

In the 200 freestyle, Logan Shriver (Emmaus, Sr.) took gold in a time of 1:43.27. Aaron Stinner (Whitehall, Sr.) came in second, Pedro Teran (Parkland, Jr.), and Jacob Brunetti (Easton, Jr.) came in third and fourth. The 200 IM winner was Malcom Collins (Liberty Sr.) with a time of 1:53.65 and was followed by Logan Hartman (Emmaus, Sr.), Pierce Brundage (Parkland, Fr.) and Gabe Krizel (Parkland, Jr.).

In the 50 freestyle, Ian Thomas (Whitehall, Sr.) grabbed gold in a time of 20.84. Leach finished second, Jack Dunham (Pocono Mountain West, Sr.) finished third, and Jacob Piccini (Parkland, Fr.) finished fourth. Cole Coffman (Nazareth, Sr.) placed first in the 100 fly with a time of 51.14, followed by Andersen Borst (Emmaus, So.), Griffin Messenlehner (Emmaus, Jr.), and David Gabrielle (Liberty, Jr.) to conclude the individual races of the Friday session. To complete the night as a whole, we got to watch an exciting 200 freestyle relay race.

The team that took gold was Easton, where senior Ethan Lapham led off followed by senior Marco Niosi, sophomore Cooper Lamas, and Brunetti in a time of 1:28.03. Emmaus finished .02 of a second behind Easton, Nazareth followed in a very close third, and Liberty touched in fourth.

Also, a huge congratulations to the two swimmers who were honored with the EPC Outstanding Swimmer awards. On the girls’ side was, Kseniia Luniushina from East Stroudsburg South, and for the boys was senior Malcolm Collins from Liberty. These two individuals had impressive seasons full of great swims.

Friday’s session contained plenty of best times and great races from the swimmers, along with lots of energy from the athletes and their fans. This was a great kickoff to the 2024 Districts XI AAA Swimming Championships, and we expect to see a lot more to come from these talented athletes during the Saturday session. This will be the last chance to put points up on the board for each team and qualify for the state meet at Bucknell.