The Northampton boys varsity swim team ended the 2013-2014 season on high note last Wednesday evening as they clinched their first winning season in seven years with a record of 8-5 overall and 5-5 in the Lehigh Valley conference.

Despite a loss to Easton at home on last week on senior night, this season marks the first winning record Northampton swimming has achieved since the girls team posted a winning season since the winter of 2007.

In their final meet of the season, both teams remained focused on the competitive drive and team spirit that have taken the team to this new milestone. Among the night's highlights were the boys wins in the 200 and 400 free relay events and girl victories in the 200 and 500 individual free events.

Among those posting points for Northampton were Madison Bernal and Annalise Christy. The swimmers came in first and second in the 200 freestyle event with Bernal's winning time of 2:10.07. Christy would go on to take first in the 500 freestyle event with a winning time of 5:45.88. Bernal would also join Emma Steirer, Rachel Pursell and Paige Knouse to place first in the girls 400 free relay with a winning time of 3:58.66.

For the boys, Northampton sprinters Kyle Iasiello and Cory Ninos took first and second place respectively in the 50 freestyle event with Iasiello's winning time of 23.57. Ninos secured his own first place win in the 100 freestyle event at 53.25 with Northampton's Mike Bauer taking a close second.

Rounding out the individual Northampton wins, Kaden Chambers and Joey Szerencsits took first and second in the 500 freestyle event with Chambers' winning time of 5:20.48. The Northampton team of Iasiello, Chambers, Szerencsits and Ben Longacre placed first in the 200 freestyle relay (1:37.18) and later Iasiello and Szerencsits joined Ninos and Nick Pavlacka to claim victory in the 400 freestyle with a time of 3:32.61.

Reflecting on the 2013-2014 season, Northampton coach Gwen Whilden seems pleased with how far the team has come this year.

"It was a good season," Whilden said. "They are a much more mature team than they were at the start of this year."

For many of the team members, their focus now turns to the PIAA District 11 Championship meet.

When asked about the team's prospects for districts, Whilden simply said, "I don't deal in speculation, I only deal in what we've already accomplished" and this year, the team has accomplished a lot.

Fourteen Northampton swimmers will advance to the District 11 Championship meet including five girls and nine boys. Those swimmers are: Annalise Christy, Emma Steirer, Madison Bernal, Paige Knouse, Rachel Pursell, Cory Ninos, Ben Longacre, Steton Weber, Kyle Iasiello, Nick Pavlacka, Kaden Chambers, Gavyn Frankenfield, Mike Bauer and Joey Szerencsits.

The PIAA Championship meet will be held on March 12 and 13 at Bucknell University.