Junior Mina Feyrer earned a trip to the PIAA Swimming Championships at Bucknell University next week with a first place finish in the girls 100 Yard Butterfly at the District 11 Championships this past weekend at Parkland High School.

Sophomore Alexus Merkert finished second in the event, but only the top finisher is guaranteed a trip to states. Merkert could still earn a trip once all of the scores from around the state are tabulated.

"We're doing very well. We're holding our own with the big fish here today," said coach Pete Rile referring to the small size of his team compared to many of the other schools at the event. "We medaled yesterday [Saturday] and we medaled in diving, so we're proud; we should be proud of what we've done with both the guys and girls this year."

Senior Kailyn Beil finished fourth in the diving portion of districts held the previous weekend at Emmaus High School.

Whitehall just missed medals in two other relay events, finishing fifth in the 200 Yard Medley Relay with a team of Feyrer and fellow junior Jess Marselles along with sophomores Alexus Merkert and Grace Sullivan. Feyrer, Merkert and Sullivan teamed with sophomore Mairead Doyle for a fifth place finish in the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay as well.

Feyrer, who swam in the maximum four events, also got a seventh place finish individually in the 100 Yard Backstroke.

On the boys side, senior Jonathan Boyd also swam in four events, picking up a pair of seventh place finishes in individual events for the 200 Yard IM and 100 Yard Breaststroke. Boyd teamed with senior Takwan Hargrove, sophomore Felix Figueroa and freshman Jack Yadush to finish seventh in the 200 Yard Medley Relay and teamed with Hargrove, Figueroa and junior Anthony Fragnito to finish eighth in the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay.

The girls finished sixth overall in the team competition, while the boys finished in 11th.

Whitehall's small team size presents a disadvantage, but Rile is hoping that the success in districts and the fact that they will have at least one swimmer going to states could help add to the interest in the sport at the school.

"The good press that we've been getting shows that we're a competitive group and the kids have a reputation of being great kids; they're academically good, they're sociable and they're just great kids and they're very competitive," said Rile of his team. "We hope that word will get out and people will come join us."