Whitehall head swimming coach Pete Rile believes both his girls' and boy's team can make an impact at the upcoming district meet as they both begin the latter parts of their season.

For the past few season, the girls' unit has been gaining momentum as a major threat in the Lehigh Valley Conference (LVC). This season, they have battled some of the LVC's perennial power and gained and established a budding reputation.

Whitehall's girls' team soundly defeated Salisbury, 115-50, as they swept all of the individual events and captured two of the three relays. The boys' team fell to Salisbury, 129-40.

"We've noticed that teams are now bringing their full squad to face us," stated Rile. "We have been taking a different approach to those types of meets as well. Before, we would look at meets with Easton, Emmaus, and Parkland as ones in which we can work on things.

"Now, we have gone into them with the intent of winning. We have a veteran girls' team that has really risen to the occasion."

Senior Brooke Gilson, who has been a district and state qualifier, will be among several female who will be participating in districts as she has already qualified in the 200 and 500 freestyle.

Sophomore Mina Feyrer, who made the trip to states as a freshman, has qualified in the 200 IM and 100 back, and freshman Alexis Merkert has been recording good enough times in the 100 butterfly.

Rile also expects freshmen Maria Kyle and Grace Sullivan along with seniors Vicky Ceasar, Allison Emick, and Emily Brick to make the trip to districts as their times are extremely close to making the mark.

On the boys' side, junior Jonathan Boyd has qualified in the fly and could qualify in the 200 IM Senior Jason Dziedic is closing in on the qualifying mark in the 50 and 100 freestyle, and freshman Felix Figueroa is very close to a qualifying mark in the 100 butterfly.

Senior Rudy Romanyshyn should also make the mark in the 100 fly or 100 back.

Rile is optimistic his boys' unit can eventually overcome their recurring depth problem.

"Our boys' team has come a long way," stressed Rile. "We used to be a team with little talents on the boys' side, but now we have guys who have developed throughout our lineup.

"If we can continue to add the younger swimmers, we will be a solid unit in two years. They keep working and keep making progress."

The Zephyrs will have five meets over the next three weeks before they begin the postseason, a period that could be one to remember.

"We will have a good number of swimmers qualifying, and a good number who know what the postseason is all about through their experiences," noted Rile. "We expect to have a number of swimmers who can really do well. This has been a hard-working group that has really developed over time."