Last weekend at the PIAA District 11 Class 3A swimming meet, Whitehall head coach Pete Rile admittedly had fun.

The veteran coach watched both his girls and boys squads have one of the more successful performances in district history for the school last weekend. The girls' team broke six schools records in seven swims, and the boys' team broke three school records. Overall, the girls' finished sixth in the 17 team field with 193 total points and the boys took 13th-place finish with 54 total points.

For their efforts, the girls' squad took home seven medals.

"It was a great weekend and a lot of fun," said Rile. "Obviously, this was one of the better showings we have had in a while. We had some outstanding individual and team performances. We also had a number of swimmers who posted their best times all season."

Senior Brooke Gilson took home gold in the 500 freestyle in a time of 4:58.06. She also finished second in the 200 freestyle in a time of 1:53.83.

Sophomore Mina Feyrer also had an eventful weekend as she took a second in the 100 fly in a time of 56.95. Freshman Alexa Merkert was third in a time of 56.99. Both of them broke the record set by Kim Piefly of 57.93 in 1980. Feyrer also set a new mark in the 100 backstroke with a sixth-place finish in a time of 59.69, breaking a mark set by Val Nordquist in 1995.

The girls' 400 medley relay team of Gilson, Feyrer, Merkert, sophomore Jessica Marsellas finished third in a time of 3:38.84, and the foursome also took home a fourth in the 200 medley relay in a time of 1:50.89.

Rile can appreciate the unit and also can look forward to the future with them.

"They have swum well all year," Rile said. "The good thing is that we will have three of them back for us. We have had a number of the younger swimmers who have really stepped it up for us this year."

On the boys' side, junior Jonathan Boyd had the highest finish with a 10th in the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:06.52. Jason Dziedzic dropped 15 seconds off his time with his 14th-place finish in the 500 freestyle. Both Boyd and Dziedzic set new school records.

In the relays, the boys' 200 medley relay team of Boyd, Dziedzic, senior Rudy Romanyshyn, and freshman Felix Figueroa set a new school record with their 6th place finish in a time of 1:49.67, and the 500 medley relay team of Boyd, Romanyshyn, Fragnito, and freshman Michael Haggerty also set a new mark in their 14th place finish in a time of 3:53.50.

The Zephyrs also received an added boost when diver junior Kailyn Beil, who made it to districts in her first year of diving. Beil finished 11th overall with a score of 297.80.

Gilson, Feyrer, and Merkert will continue to work out in the pool as each of them will prepare to move ahead to the state meet at Bucknell University March 13-16. Gilson will be seeded third in the 500 free.

"We'll practice and it can be a challenge," said Rile about working with his swimmers. "But all of them have worked extremely hard and each of them has a great chance to succeed."