The Emmaus swim team overcame a couple of early issues at the PIAA Swimming and Diving Championships at Bucknell University last week and made the event an overall success. Freshman Katie Champagne was disqualified in the 200-yard individual medley and the 200-yard freestyle team was also disqualified in events on the opening day of the meet, but that didn’t set the tone for the meet overall.

Freshman Chelsea Gravereaux went on to compete in the finals of the 100- and 200-yard freestyle events, finishing eighth in the 200 and 13th in the 100. Champagne redeemed herself with a strong showing as part of the 400-yard freestyle relay team, which finished 12th. That team featured three freshmen – Champagne, Gravereaux and Abby Heilenman – teamed with senior Casey Young, who was impressed with the performance of the young swimmers.

“They have a lot of potential, so it will be great to see them carry on throughout their high school careers,” said Young of her freshman teammates. “The disqualifications were kind of upsetting, but it was on the first day. Then on the second day, we had our 400 freestyle relay and we just wanted to show that we were much better than that, and we really came together.”

“We had three freshmen who gained much experience and learned so much while there,” said coach Tim O’Connor. “Chelsea getting two night swims and earning a medal her freshman year is awesome. She is really hungry for the future and I have learned so much about her to prep her for future. Most pleased how well the girls ended the meet by really competing at night in the 400 free relay.”

The girls team finished 30th out of 56 teams in the event, while the boys were 34th out of 50 teams. The team from North Penn High School won the girls overall title, while LaSalle College High School took the boys title.

For the Emmaus boys, Ethan Carr swam in the finals of both the 100-yard backstroke and the 200-yard individual medley. Carr, a junior, finished 10th in the 200 IM and 11th in the 100 backstroke, setting a personal best time of 51.61 seconds in the event.

“Ethan Carr had really nice drops and more importantly, competed intensely for those drops,” said O’Connor. “He qualified last year and experienced this meet and improved this year by qualifying for night swims. That is the growth I expect from our swimmers.”

Young, who competed in sprint events as a sophomore and qualified for states, was happy to get back to Bucknell for her senior season.

With her high school career completed, Young will be heading to Seton Hall University in the Fall and will continue her swimming career there, while majoring in Biology.

“I’m pretty happy. I was really excited to get to go to the state meet with such a great group of girls,” said Young. “It’s my last year and they really made it a great and fun experience.”