The rivalry between Parkland and Emmaus in swimming is one of the better rivalries in local sports. They are two of the best swimming programs in the area and their rivalry has a long, storied history with ups and downs for both sides.

The latest chapter will be written Thursday afternoon at Parkland High School.

The story line over the past few seasons has been that the Parkland girls leave the pool with a win over their counterparts, while the Emmaus boys make it a split decision.

For the past two seasons, the meet came earlier in the season, allowing alumni of both schools who were home over the holidays to attend the meet. This season, the meet is back at the end of the season, where it will help to determine the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference champions.

On the girls side, Parkland comes in with a perfect record of 10-0 in the EPC and 12-0 overall. The Emmaus girls are 9-1 in the conference and 9-3 overall.

The Lady Trojans have won back-to-back conference championships as members of the former Lehigh Valley Conference and have also captured six straight district titles and nine of the last 10 titles in District 11.

"On the girls side, they always swim us well and swim us hard, no matter what," said coach Rob Robitaille. "Their girls want to win and our girls are going to have to come prepared to hold them off and not allow that to happen."

The boys side is the tougher challenge for Parkland. Emmaus won the last 10 conference titles in the LVC and has a streak of seven straight District 11 crowns.

Emmaus is 10-0 in the EPC and 11-1 overall this season, while the Trojans are 9-1 in the conference and 11-1 overall. Just as the Emmaus girls will need a strong team showing to pull off an upset, the Parkland boys will also need a full-team effort to down Emmaus.

"On the boys side, we're hoping to narrow the gap from last year, point-wise," said Robitaille. "They're obviously a talented team with a lot of depth, they have more depth than we do.

"We need to come prepared on both sides to throw out some best times leading into our championship season. We'll be ready, they'll be ready and we'll just see who comes out on top."

Senior Adam Sicinski has been through these meets before, but that doesn't mean that this one is any less special. In fact, Sicinski is quick to point out that he and his teammates have been looking forward to this meet for a while.

"You always get pumped for that," he said. "I know the guys are thinking about their individual races that they're going to have and what we can all do as a team and it's going to be fun as it always is."

One change in the battle this season could come in diving. Parkland has dominated the diving portion of the meet for a long time, but the Emmaus program has seen a fast turnaround, thanks in part to freshman Jess Hurlburt, who has set and reset school records in her first season.

Parkland has Kelsey German, who finished second in the EPC Diving Championships, held last month. Emmaus sophomore Andrew Vanim has also set a school record for diving this season, but the Hornets don't have the depth that Parkland does with Chris Lehman and Jon Hansell.

Rest assured that neither team is conceding even one event to the other and it's very likely that the meet, on both the boys and girls sides, will be close. Parkland has more depth on the girls side, but Emmaus can match that on the boys side. With the new faces on the Emmaus diving squad, that competition should be closer than it has in previous seasons, as well.

As Sicinski puts it, the final regular season meet of the year is the biggest regular season meet of the year and both sides hope to leave with a win.

"This is the finish-strong moment," he said. "This is the go-out-with-a-bang moment, leave it all with Emmaus; every race is going to be a really fun race."