Emmaus and Parkland battled recently for the EPC Championship and a quick look at the seedings for this weekend’s District 11 Championship shows why the two teams are the cream of the crop in the Lehigh Valley. Parkland and Emmaus swimmers are seeded one-two in seven of the 22 events and combine to have two of the top three seeds in 14 events.

The Parkland girls wrapped up their fourth straight conference championship in the win over Emmaus and look to make it eight straight triumphs in the District 11 Championships.

One highlight of the meet could come in the girls 100 yard freestyle, where Parkland senior and defending PIAA gold medal winner Siena Salvaggio will go head-to-head with Emmaus freshman Chelsea Gravereaux. Gravereaux’s qualifying time is less than one second behind Salvaggio coming into districts. The two didn’t swim head-to-head in the event in their regular season matchup, but will compete against each other for the first time this weekend.

Salvaggio, who comes into districts seeded first in two individual events and first and second in two relay events, is seeded first in the 50-yard freestyle. Fellow senior Tori Connolly is seeded first in the 500-yard freestyle event, with a time nearly nine seconds faster than her nearest competitor, and is the number-two seed in the 200-yard freestyle. Connolly is seeded first or second in three of her events. She is also the only senior on the 200-yard freestyle relay, where she is teamed with three sophomores – Grace Kennedy, Megan Sicinski and Zoe Sheridan – on a team that is seeded third.

Freshman Allie Lin has the fastest time in both the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard breaststroke, and Sicinski is seeded third in the 100 breaststroke.

On the boys side, Hyunbin Kim is the highest seeded swimmer for Parkland, seeded second in the 200-yard freestyle. Fellow junior Matt Engler is seeded third for Parkland in the 200-yard IM and the 100-yard butterfly. Meanwhile, sophomore James Connolly is the third seed in the 500-yard freestyle.

In relays, the team of Salvaggio, Connolly, Lin and Kira Karopoulos are the top seed coming into the 200-yard medley relay, while Salvaggio, Connolly, Lin and sophomore Sheridan are the second seed in the 400 freestyle relay.

An all underclassmen team of juniors Kim and Engler and sophomores Ceh and Adam Kucharczuk come in ranked second in the 200 freestyle relay, while Kim, Engler, Ceh and Connolly are the third seed in the 400 freestyle relay.

Districts will be held at Parkland High School Friday and Saturday.