Historical District XI Swimming Championship Meet for the Parkland Trojans

The final day of the 2024 District XI AAA Swimming Championships did not disappoint. More best times and great races were on display. The athletes did not fail to bring their energy from Friday night to Saturday, the last day of the meet. The final session consisted of events 15-24.

The girls’ 100 freestyle kicked off day two of the meet. Sydney Labaugh (Parkland, Fr.) earned herself an individual gold with a time of 52.10, Victoria Kuteras (Pocono Mountain East, Jr.) came in second, Anna Kirby (Stroudsburg, Jr.) came in behind her, and Isabelle Johnson (Southern Lehigh, Sr.) followed in fourth.

As for the 500 freestyle, Georgia Magditch finished first in a time of 5:25.42, followed by Cami Johnson (Southern Lehigh, Fr.), Mia Baldwin (Emmaus, Sr.) in a close third, and Grace Robinson (Southern Lehigh, Sr.) fourth. The next event for the girls was the 100 backstroke where Kseniia Luniushina (East Stroudsburg South, Sr.) took gold with a time of 54.52 to break the district record of 55.82 and the pool record of 54.85. In second was LaBaugh, who was followed by Kyla Spengler (Nazareth, Jr.), and Izzy Sparaco (Emmaus, Sr.).

The last individual event of the meet was the 100 breaststroke. Kelsey McPeek (Parkland, So.) placed first in the event with an impressive time of 1:03.72, Gianna Cusumano (Southern Lehigh, Jr.) took second, Leah Onia (Liberty, So.), and Sophia Harmon (Emmaus, So.) followed. To end the meet for the girls, Parkland put on a show in the 400 freestyle relay and placed first with a time of 3:37.63 and consisted of, sophomore Milla Hahn, senior Madison Roseman, junior Julianne Zaffiro, and senior Sophia Cerimele. Cerimele dove in 2.89 seconds behind Emmaus and anchored the relay in a 51.58 to secure the Lady Trojans their third relay win.

Emmaus finished behind Parkland. Southern Lehigh took third, and Nazareth finished fourth.

After the girls’ 100 freestyle, the boys put on a great race themselves. Ian Thomas (Whitehall, Sr.) finished first in the 100 freestyle in a time of 46.03, followed by Andersen Borst (Emmaus, So.), Dannik Khais (Parkland, Sr.), and Jacob Brunetti (Easton, Jr.).

The next event for the boys was the 500 freestyle where Logan Shriver (Emmaus, Sr.) took gold in 4:38.37 just ahead of Aaron Stinner (Whitehall, Sr.) by 0.39 of a second. Dominic Faenza (Parkland, Fr.) and Reid Lovett (Emmaus, So.) followed. As for the 100 backstroke, Griffin Messenlehner (Emmaus, Jr.) came in first in a time of 51.01 and finished ahead of Khais, David Gabrielle (Liberty, Jr.), and Cole Coffman (Nazareth, Sr.).

To finish up all the individual events of the meet, the boys put on an exciting race where Carter Mui (Pocono Mountain West) finished first ahead of Malcolm Collins (Liberty, Sr.) by 0.41 of a second with a time of 56.37. Leo Quaranta (Nazareth, Sr.) and Garrett Longbons (Emmaus, Sr.) took third and fourth. To complete Districts entirely, we got to watch an impressive 400 freestyle relay race. The team that took gold was Emmaus in a time of 3:09.81, on the winning relay was Shriver, Borst, Messenlehner, and senior Logan Hartman. Behind them was Parkland, Easton, and Whitehall.

The overall winner of the District XI AAA 2024 Swimming Championships for the girls was Parkland with a score of 431 marking this as their 27th District win. Emmaus was the 2024 District XI AAA runner up with a score of 406 and Southern Lehigh came in third with a score of 315. As for the boys, Parkland claimed gold and came out on top to end Emmaus’s 16 straight District win streak with a score of 482. The runner up on the boys side was Emmaus with a score of 470, and in third place was Nazareth with 244 points.

Congratulations to all the teams on successful seasons and to each swimmer and diver on their incredible performances. A final congratulations to the winners of the Dennis McGinley award: Kseniia Luniushina from East Stroudsburg South and Ian Thomas from Whitehall.

Good luck to all the athletes competing at states in two weeks and congratulations to all for another outstanding District XI Championship Meet.