As has happened many times in the past, the Emmaus and Parkland swimming and diving rivalry ended in a split decision. The Emmaus boys downed Parkland 119-67, while the girls team took the meet down to the last race, but came up short, losing 98-88. The split decision also split the East Penn Conference titles, with the Emmaus boys taking their 12th straight conference title, and the Parkland girls winning their fourth straight championship.

The girls meet came down to the 400-yard freestyle relay, the last race of the night, and Parkland took the top spot in the race to wrap up the win and the conference championship. The Emmaus team of Marissa Decker, Kaitlin Hur, Casey Young and Chelsea Gravereaux finished just under two seconds behind Parkland, with Emmaus also taking third in the heat.

Parkland earned a little breathing room in the two previous events, the 100 backstroke and the 100 breaststroke, when the Trojans took first and third in the breaststroke and first, third and fourth in the backstroke.

“Backstroke was really a tough one,” said coach Tim O’Connor. “Their kids swam better than I anticipated, and our kids just didn’t answer that call. They gave everything they have. They gave every bit of energy that they had, and it just wasn’t in the cards tonight. If we had gotten two extra points out of those two events, then it makes the last relay a little different. Our kids put us in a position to win the meet with one event to go and that hasn’t happened in many-a-many year.”

Several swimmers on the boys side had big nights, including Tom Schlechter, the lone senior on the team, Ethan Carr, Connor DeJohn, Patrick McAllister and Andrew Vanim. McAllister got first place finished in the 200 medley relay, the 100 butterfly, 100 backstroke and the 400 freestyle relay.

“Both teams swam well, the boys won and the girls unfortunately lost, but we just have to move on from that and have to look forward to districts,” said McAllister. “It should give us some momentum, but we should just stay humble and face our competition to the best of our ability.”

Schlechter also got two individual firsts and two relay firsts in his final regular season high school meet.

“Tommy – the class of one for four years – how cool is that for him to go out with two individual victories, two relay victories, he gets to hoist that trophy for EPC Championship,” said O’Connor. “He’s a tough kid and I couldn’t be happier for him.”

Emmaus accomplished something that may be a first for the program, when an Emmaus diver finished atop the leaderboard on both the boys and girls side against Parkland. Jess Hurlburt won the girls diving, while Vanim took the boys event.

“Never,” said O’Connor when asked about the last time it happened. “I think it’s a fair assessment to say, as long as Carey Lehman’s been the coach at Parkland, he does a great job, that it’s never happened. We’ve got Jess and Andrew, who are just diving really, really well right now. Jess is a little banged up right now, but kudos to her for getting on that board injured and doing her best.

“Vanim had a great night, getting those points for first place. He’s been working on some stuff. His last dive was a crazy dive that he wanted to throw in at the last minute and he did it with no problem. What a risky move, but he did it, what a great night.”

Competing in both swimming and diving keeps Vanim busy, but he’s excited that he was able to have success, especially in such an important meet.

“I love to swim, but diving is where I feel I excel more, although I had one of the best nights of my swimming career,” said Vanim. “I dropped a :22.6 on my relay split, but I also rebroke my [diving] record, so I got two personal records, which is awesome for me.

“I’m so proud of my team. I can’t be any more proud of any of these guys. I really credit all the swimmers and it’s a great feeling to be EPC Champions again. I’m just really proud of my team and how well they did.”