Parkland girls lead local medal count

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It wasn’t quite the day that Parkland swimmers Kayla Johnson and Madison Tewksbury hoped for, but it also wasn’t a bad day. Members of the Parkland girls’ swim team collected all four of the swimming medals that went to District 11 swimmers Saturday afternoon at Cumberland Valley High School. Parkland led all local teams with a final team score of 74 points, good enough to finish 14th in the team standings.

Among other local teams, Freedom finished 32nd with a score of 16, Emmaus posted a score of 12 for a 37^th place finish and Southern Lehigh was 43rd with a team score of six. Freedom’s 16 points came from diver Sarah Gill, who finished third last weekend at the PIAA diving meet, while the six points for Southern Lehigh all came from freshman Garrity Ford, who placed 11^th in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of :57.05.

Not quite knowing what to expect, Ford was happy with her inaugural trip to states. “I’m the only member of my team out here, but I know some of the other swimmers from junior Olympics and I’ve spent a lot of time with the Parkland girls, so I’m having a lot of fun,” said Ford. “It went well. I dropped time, which I’m really happy about and came close to getting a :56, which I’m happy about,”

Johnson finished with two medals in individual events, including a bronze in the 50-yard freestyle where she swam a :23.74. In the 100-yard freestyle, Johnson placed seventh for her second medal of the day. The junior swimmer was also a part of Parkland’s 200-yard medley team and 400-yard freestyle teams. In the 200-medley, Parkland came in seeded 14^th and finished 11^th. The 400-freestyle team finished 13^th overall.

“I wish that I could have done better, but I’m still happy with how I placed overall,” said Johnson. “It feels great that we were even able to have states, so overall I’m happy because we were never sure we would be here, so I’m happy.”

For sophomore Madison Tewksbury, the swim of the day came in the 100-yard breaststroke where she medaled with a sixth-place finish and a time of 1:04.19. Emmaus’ Lauren Sharp also swam in the event and placed 12^th overall with a time of 1:05.69. The two are friendly rivals who were looking forward to competing against each other at states when Sharp qualified when more than the original top eight finishers were given spots. Tewksbury was also part of the 200-medley relay team and the 200-freestyle relay teams.

“I feel like I could have done better. I wasn’t very pleased,” Tewksbury admitted of her swims. “I am still very happy that I had the chance to come to states and compete with my team.”

Elsewhere, Olivia Stevenson of Parkland finished 11^th in the 500-yard freestyle and 14^th in the 200-yard freestyle. Emmaus’ Chloe Vlaeminck swam the 100-yard butterfly, finishing 16^th. In addition to her swim in the 100-yard breaststroke, Sharp also swam the 200-yard IM and finished 11^th.

Diving was held last weekend with Freedom’s Sarah Gill finishing third.

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS:

1. North Allegheny 167
2. Wilson 152
3. State College 114
4. Unionville 112
5. Downingtown East 111.5
6. Parkland 74
7. Freedom 16
8. Emmaus 12
9. Southern Lehigh 6