Emmaus swimming and diving held its annual senior night recently when it swam against Nazareth. The night celebrated six seniors – Kayla Apostolico, Maura Beuttel, Sammy Mull, Miranda O’Donald, Tom Schlechter and Casey Young – as their final high school season winds down.

Both the boys and girls teams continued their winning ways and remain undefeated after the girls downed Nazareth 108-70 and the boys won 100-80.

The seniors were recognized in front of the crowd for their achievements and future endeavors, received gifts and posed for pictures with their families before taking the traditional jump into the pool wearing their warm-up suits. All six are planning on heading to college or a military academy after graduation.

“It’s always tough,” said coach Tim O’Connor about senior night. “I think that’s why I always try to block those things out, because I really like to enjoy the time I have with them and not dwell on too much. We’re in a situation where we’ve got another home meet in front of us and other meets that we’re focusing on, so I know my job’s not done with them yet. For me it’s different when that moment of finality does happen, when they’re turning in their gear. That’s when it hits me.”

Sammy Mull and Mirando O’Donald agree that the family-like atmosphere and camaraderie are what they’ll miss most about competing on the swim team. Mull is headed to Pitt to major as a physician’s assistant, while O’Donald will be at Delaware, where she’ll major in athletic training. O’Donald will give up swimming to play softball for the Blue Hens, while Mull plans on swimming on Pitt’s club team.

While it was an emotional night for the seniors, many of the underclassmen were also emotional at the thought of the team’s leaders heading off to college next fall.

“I think it’s sweet that the younger kids care about us that much,” said Mull. “Even though the younger kids are really good in their own way, they still look up to us and are really proud. To be a leader is one of the best things and to be someone that someone else looks up to, you know you’re doing something right.”

“It’s really bittersweet after all the hard work and the countless hours that we’re in the pool,” said O’Donald. “It’s amazing to think that it went so fast. It’s exciting to be moving on, but at the same time, I don’t know if I’m ready to move on because I spend so much time here with these people that it’s a really sad thing to have to go my own way next year.”

While O’Connor admits he’ll miss the seniors, he also admits that watching them go through their own process of choosing a school is one of his favorite things.

“It’s neat talking to them about the schools,” said O’Connor. “Whenever someone wants to go to [a military] academy, you’ve got something special, and that suits Kayla and that’s what she wants. Sammy is going to Pitt, a huge school on the other side of the state. She knows that’s where she wants to go. Maura, and her whole process of going through schools, and then she went to Ithaca and she was like ‘wow, that’s it.’ Casey was jumping all over the place and then finally settled on Seton Hall, which is awesome, and Tommy is looking at Penn, looking at Duke, looking at Dartmouth. No matter which school he goes to, it’s a great school.

“It’s really cool to see these kids looking at their futures. A lot of these kids are exempt from the final exams because they did so well on mid-terms, and when you’re dealing with kids like that, it shows how intelligent they are. Plus, these kids have made every practice. They’re going to great schools and they’re disciplined, thanks in part, to our program.”