With just two seniors and a team with fewer swimmers than most, Northampton had an uphill battle at the District 11 Swimming Championships at Parkland High School Feb. 27-28.

The good news is that they handled the battle well and came away with the girls finishing ninth and the boys finishing in tenth in the team competition.

"We did very well," said coach Gwen Whildin. "We had 92-percent improvement on our performances and I was very thrilled with that. Three or four of the places where we missed getting our best times, we were within a second, so I was very pleased with that."

Senior Kaden Chambers placed seventh in the 500 yard freestyle and was part of relay teams that captured eighth in the 200 yard medley and sixth in the 400 yard freestyle. Chambers was teamed with junior Steton Weber and sophomores Michael Bauer and Gavyn Frankenfield in both relay events.

Individually, Chambers finished 13th in the 200 yard IM, with Frankenfield finishing tenth.

On the girls side, senior Kelly Thoma teamed with juniors Rachel Pursell and Kaitlin Nemes and sophomore Morgan Fehnel on the 200 yard medley team that finished tenth and was a member of the 400 yard freestyle team that finished eighth. Pursell, Nemes and freshman Brynn Delvecchio rounded out the 400 freestyle team.

In addition to contributing on two relay teams, Frankenfield picked up a seventh place finish in the 100 yard butterfly event, while Bauer picked up a 13th place finish in the 50 yard freestyle and a fifth-place finish in the 100 yard backstroke, missing going to the medal podium by just 29/100 of a second.

"I did a little better than I had thought that I might. In the backstroke, I was hoping for a :57 and I came out with a :56 and that felt great, because it was the help from my team that got me there," said Bauer. "I dropped a little over four-seconds in the backstroke, so I'm excited with that."

The girls relay team with Pursell, Nemes, Fehnel and Delvecchio finished ninth in the 200 yard freestyle.

The girls finished ninth overall in the team competition, while the boys finished in tenth. The improvement was pleasing not just for Whildin, but for all of the swimmers, as well. Bauer noted how the team truly functioned as a team and help to pull each other through difficult times during the season.

"They're kids and they can lose focus some times, so you just have to redirect them a little," admitted Whildin. "Overall, it was a great season."

Madison Pursell, Thoma and Chambers will be the three seniors lost to graduation. The girls had three juniors this year along with three sophomores and four freshmen. Meanwhile, the boys had one junior this year along with one freshman but also had four sophomores.