Friday Session of the District XI AAA Swimming Championship did not Disappoint

With an electrifying atmosphere and a packed Parkland High School natatorium, day one of the District XI AAA 2025 Swimming Championships kicked off on Friday night. The athletes and fans were loud, spirited, and fired up. With great anticipation and high expectations leading up to this meet, the first night certainly lived up to the hype. Each athlete has worked incredibly hard over the 24-25 season to get to this moment and they were all ready to showcase what they worked for as individuals and as teams.

Before the first day of the swimming portion of districts was the diving portion. On Saturday, February 22nd, the divers got to play their part for their teams at Emmaus High School. The top four results for the girls were as follows: Hayden Taylor with 485.40 points (Freedom), Johanna Cook with 393.15 points (Parkland), Samantha Schultz with 358.90 points (Parkland), and Isabella Kish with 351.40 points (Northampton). The top four results for the boys were: Cody Smith with 470.10 points (Freedom), Bradley Kunz had 434.50 points (Parkland), Doug Cornish had 426.40 points (Emmaus), and Alex Szeplaki had 422.15 points (Northampton). The divers represented their teams well and will be sending Taylor, Cook, Smith, and Kunz to states in two weeks.

On the girls’ side, as of Friday night, Parkland is in the lead with a score of 328, Emmaus is in second with a score of 206, and Southern Lehigh is in third with a score of 125. Friday’s session consisted of events 3-14. The meet kicked off with an impressive 200 medley relay for Parkland who went a 1:44.16 to win the event. The relay consisted of freshman Baylee Kish, juniors Kelsey McPeek and Milla Hahn, and sophomore Sydney LaBaugh. Nazareth placed second after Parkland, then Emmaus and Liberty followed in third and fourth. LaBaugh carried her momentum from the medley relay into the 200 freestyle to win it in 1:52.70. Keilani Silva (Emmaus, Fr.) took second, Victoria Kuteras (Pocono Mountain East, Sr.) took third, and Farrah Hahn (Parkland, Fr.) finished in fourth. In the 200 IM, M. Hahn took gold in a time of 2:09.76. Sydney Valvano (Nazareth, So.) placed second and M. Hahn’s teammates Ella Rafeld (Jr.) and Mazie Fleischaker (Fr.) finished third and fourth. Anna Kirby (Stroudsburg, Sr.) placed first in the 50 freestyle with a time of 23.65. Behind her was McPeek, Veronica Karboski (Emmaus, Sr.), and Vivian Werner (Nazareth, Jr.). The last individual event of the night was the 100 fly, where M. Hahn claimed her second individual gold of the night in a time of 57.68. Kyla Spengler (Nazareth, Sr.) placed second, Sophia Harmon (Emmaus, Jr.) in third, and Kish in a close fourth. To finish off the night for the girls, we got to watch an impressive 200 freestyle relay race. The team that took gold was Emmaus in a time of 1:39.01 and consisted of Karboski, Silva, sophomore Mabry Krause, and freshman Sriya Reddy. Parkland finished in second, Nazareth touched in third, and Southern Lehigh came in fourth.

On the boys’ side, as of Friday night, Parkland was in the lead with a total of 330 points, Emmaus was in second with 302 points, and Northampton was in third with 129 points. We expect these scores to continue to stay tight throughout the whole meet. After the exciting girl’s medley relay, we continued on to watch a close relay between the boys. The Emmaus Hornets took gold. The relay was led off by senior Brady King, followed by seniors Julian Vlaeminck and Griffin Messenlehner, and anchored by junior Joe Lyons. In a very close second was Parkland, then Nazareth and Northampton finished third and fourth. In the 200 freestyle, King took gold in a time of 1:43.02. Dominic Faenza (Parkland, So.) came in a close second. Faenza’s teammates seniors Pedro Teran and Michael Toth came in third and fourth. The 200 IM winner was Jacob Brunetti (Easton, Sr.) with a time of 1:57.49 and was followed by Graham Lovett (Emmaus, So.), Ethan Coleman (Parkland, So.), and Roman Herman (Emmaus, Jr.). In the 50 freestyle, Messenlehner grabbed gold in a time of 20.78. Patrick Leach (Nazareth, Sr.) finished second, Thomas Price (Parkland Jr.) finished third, and Jacob Piccini (Parkland, So.) finished fourth. Price placed first in the 100 fly with a time of 50.80, followed by Vlaeminck, Ian Barrey (Nazareth, Jr.), and Carter Smith (Emmaus, So.) to conclude the individual races of the Friday session. To complete the night as a whole, we got to watch a close race in the 200 freestyle relay. The team that took gold was Parkland, where Piccini led off followed by senior Eric Friday, Faenza, and Bell in a time of 1:26.88. Nazareth finished .18 of a second behind Parkland, Emmaus followed in a very close third, and Easton touched in fourth.

Friday’s session contained plenty of best times and great races by the swimmers, along with lots of energy from the crowd. As always, the Friday session was a great kickoff to the Districts XI AAA Swimming Championship. 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.