The Northampton varsity swim team traveled to Freedom High School on Thursday, Jan. 22, for a meet that yielded several strong Northampton swims and individual event victories but in the end, both the Northampton boys and girls squads would fall to Freedom by scores of 107-62 and 117-61 respectively.

Among the highlights for Northampton was senior Kaden Chambers who took first place in both the 200 yard individual medley (2:07.75) and the 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 1:07.60. Chambers is one of four Kids who have qualified for the District 11 championship swim meet.

Other Northampton District 11 meet qualifiers include Mike Bauer, Gavyn Frankenfield and Steton Weber. Bauer and Weber also claimed individual victories during Thursday's meet as Bauer took first place in the in the 100 yard backstroke with a time of 1:00.29. Northampton sprinter Steton Weber took first on the 50 yard freestyle event with a time of 25.11.

The powerhouse Northampton girls 400 yard freestyle relay team of Rachael Pursell, Kelly Thoma, Kaitlin Nemes and Brynn Delvecchio claimed the only first place finish for the girls in Thursday's contest with a winning time of 4:09.51. Pursell and Delvecchio have also qualified this season for the District 11 meet along with Northampton distance swimmer Annalise Christy.

Despite a tough loss on Thursday, the Northampton swim team has cause for celebration already this season.

According to Northampton's assistant coach Cullen Mentzel, "So far this year both teams have swum very well in our dual meets. It is a total team effort, especially on the boys team with only seven guys. All of the guys on the team have been willing to swim different events in order to give us the best chance of winning."

Looking forward, Mentzel is encouraged by the results the team has driven so far this season.

"We still have five dual meets left [this season] where we hope to get more swimmers qualified for the district meet and just continue to improve as a team." Mentzel said.

Mentzel explains that the team's focus has been on further developing skills and technique; knowing that even the smallest adjustments can make the difference in times, points and district championship qualifying swims.

"One of our main goals for this year as a team was to improve the little things that in the end will help us drop time. We want to become a more technically sound team. If we are going to do something we want to do it right," Mentzel said.

Northampton welcomes Allentown Central Catholic High School for their next home meet on Thursday, Jan. 29, at 4 p.m. at the Northampton Middle School pool.