The Emmaus boys swimming team is coming off its seventh straight District 11 title, but has a lot of holes to fill thanks to having lost key swimmers to graduation. The good news is that underclassmen also contributed strongly to last year's squad, so those holes may be a little easier to fill than first thought.

No matter what happens in the pool, the season has started well for Emmaus as head coach Tim O'Connor was named to the Pennsylvania Swimming Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame is located on the campus of Penn State and O'Connor will be officially inducted in January at the state swim meet. O'Connor was nominated for the honor a few years ago, but fell short of the votes needed to be inducted. He was again nominated this year and received enough votes from fellow coaches to be inducted.

"It's a great honor to have, just knowing that it's at the state meet and we'll be down here, hopefully, as a team and representing Emmaus well. It's just a testament to all of the great swimmers I've had and great assistant coaches I've had," said O'Connor.

O'Connor, who is entering his 12th season as coach of the program, follows former Emmaus coach Mike Seip, who preceded O'Connor as coach at Emmaus, into the Hall of Fame.

As for the chances of the Emmaus team getting to states to be there when its coach is inducted, there is always a good chance since the program continues to turn out young swimmers who move up to fill in holes from graduation. O'Connor sees swimmers from last year's squad who have already started to take on leadership roles with the team and are helping to mentor the young swimmers on the roster.

"We lost a lot of experience last year," said O'Connor. "All of the swimmers on the boys side had state-meet experience and they had goals to make it back to states and this year's senior class has shaped up a little bit differently.

"On the boys side, having the Carter Pauleses and John Woltornists of the world really setting the bar high has really helped us. A lot of young kids came out this year, so we have a lot of new faces and so far, just 10 or 12 days into this, I'm really pleased with their efforts."

Paules isn't only taking on more of a leadership role with the team, but personally, he's looking to improve upon his 10th-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley last season.

The senior swimmer believes that he and the team have a good shot at another strong season after going 10-1 and winning their 10th straight conference title last season.

"I really want to make top eight in states," said Paules. "That's my main goal. I got 10th last year, so I think I can make top eight and that's what I want to do this year. I think it's a great opportunity to lead the team.

"We can definitely hold our place in the conference, even though it's a new conference and we don't know what to expect, but I think we can do pretty well at the conference level."

O'Connor looks to young swimmers to continue their development and sees some who are poised to become the next big names in Emmaus swimming.

"On the boys' side," he said. "Ethan Carr had a really good freshman year. Unfortunately, he was hurt for a big chunk of time in December and January, so our main goal is keeping Ethan healthy because he had a great district meet. Tom Schlechter is another boy who really came on at the end of the year as a distance swimmer and Connor DeJohn, football player/swimmer, I just love saying that, he developed very nicely last year and Jason Yerger is another one.

"Early into this season, two kids kind of catch my eye: freshman Pat McAllister comes in with a lot of USA Swimming experience and is a solid swimmer, well-rounded. Nathan Luey's building off of last year, which is really, really nice."

Emmaus opens its season at home Friday afternoon against conference foe Freedom and nonconference foe Wyoming Valley West.