In their first meet since before Christmas, both the Emmaus boys and girls swim teams stretched their records to 3-0 on the season with wins over Freedom. The girls team downed the Lady Patriots 119-64, while the boys picked up a 113-70 win in their home pool.

The girls jumped to an early lead taking first and second in the 200-yard medley relay and then saw Katie Champagne win the 200 yard freestyle before they swept the top three spots in the 200 yard individual medley, with Kelly Harvey taking first, Maggie Champagne second and Marissa Decker third in the event.

Later in the meet, Katie Champagne won the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:15.11, finishing 10 seconds ahead of second place finisher Caroline Nelson of Emmaus.

On the boys side, things started a little slower, with Freedom winning in the 200 medley relay and then sweeping the top three spots in the 200 freestyle. Emmaus mounted a comeback in the 200 IM when freshman Jack Sharp swam a personal best time of 2:10.28.

“After his IM, I asked him how he thought he did and he wasn’t happy,” said Emmaus head coach Tim O’Connor. “But when I asked him what his best time was and I was able to tell him that he beat his best time by two-seconds, it was great.”

Sharp finished nine seconds ahead of teammate Cole Connolly in the event and was also a member of the 200 medley relay team that placed third and the 200 freestyle relay team that placed second.

“When I got out, I was so tired,” said Sharp of the IM performance. “During the breaststroke, I could not feel anything, but the last 50 of freestyle I felt better and was able to finish strong, so I was happy.”

“It’s the classic thing coming out of winter break,” said O’Connor. “Because you’re doing so much more and you’re tired, and he swam well and I’m really pleased with his development as a young freshman.

“This meet, the first one out of winter break and the kids worked really hard during the break, and a lot of the kids have colds, so I was really pleased with the efforts.”

Even though he’s a freshman, Sharp says that he feels comfortable with the team because he’s been swimming with many of his teammates for years on club teams, so the adjustment to varsity swimming has been relatively easy. He’s also happy to have the chance to do both individual and relay events.

“They both have their strengths and differences,” said Sharp. “With the individual events you really get to see how you’re doing against other swimmers, but in the relays, you’re part of another team and you can rely on everyone and it’s a great feeling when you win.”

The winter break can be a tough time for teams because of having their normal schedules and routines disrupted. It’s also a time when swimmers are more susceptible to illnesses, like the one that wiped through the team last season leaving them with a number of swimmers either on the sidelines or struggling to meet their usual times. This season, the problem hasn’t been as severe, but it’s still there.

“I find that most often, our kids get sick when they fall out of their routine,” said O’Connor. “Last year was horrendous. Kids were falling left and right. This year was a little more mild as far as numbers, but the kids who were affected were down a lot longer than they were last year. I think getting back in the routine will help them rebound because they came into school and they got moving, so I’m glad that we’re back in a regular routine now.”

Even though both teams are off to 3-0 starts, O’Connor isn’t letting up on his swimmers. He sees areas where many of them need to focus in order to compete against strong teams, like they’ll do this week in the Bucknell Invitational, where Emmaus will be one of eight teams competing in one of the top invitational events at Bucknell University. Next weekend, they’ll swim in another big event, the Wilson Relays. Both events will help O’Connor and his team gauge where they are compared to some of the better teams in the state.

“I’m still hypercritical of things,” said O’Connor. “Even Conner DeJohn, when he asked me what I thought, I said ‘well, if I’m being honest, you need to do x, y and z, still.’ They don’t like hearing that, but they need to hear it, because there’s still time to be addressing some of these things if it matters to them.

“Overall, I’m pleased, they’re starting to develop and they’re finding little niches where you can place them and they can do some things, but there’s still some weaknesses that we have.”

GIRLS

Emmaus 119, Freedom 64 200 medley relay: 1. Emmaus (Marissa Decker, Maggie Champagne, Abby Heilenman, Chelsea Gravereaux) 1:51.02, 2. Emmaus, 3. Freedom;

200 freestyle: 1. Katie Champagne (E) 2:02.92, 2. Reilly Ward (F), 3. Erin Madden (F);

200 individual medley: 1. Kelly Harvey (E) 2:26.80, 2. Maggie Champagne (E), 3. Marissa Decker (E);

50 freestyle: 1. Sydney Straka (F) 28.32, 2. Elizabeth Gould (E), 3. Kate McPhillips (E);

Diving: 1. Fallon Tatlow (F) 163.15, 2. Erin Coffey (H), 3. Leigha Evans (F);

100 butterfly: 1. Chelsea Gravereauxx (E) 1:00.92, 2. Lydia Garton (E), 3. Sage Hillier (F);

100 freestyle: 1. Reilly Ward (F) 57.64, 2. Erin Madden (F), 3. Jordyn Yerger (E);

500 freestyle: 1. Abby Heilenman (E) 5:30.52, 2. Rileigh Ellis (F), 3. Kaitlin Hur (E);

200 freestyle relay: 1. Emmaus (Kaitlin Hur, Marissa Decker, Kelly Harvery, Lydia Garton) 1:47.37, 2. Freedom, 3. Emmaus;

100 backstroke: 1. Reilly King (E) 1:05.33, 2. Lexi Shuryn (E), 3. Linda Mao (F);

100 breaststroke: 1. Katie Champagne (E) 1:15.11, 2. Caroline Nelson (E), 3. Hallie Smith (F);

400 freestyle relay: 1. Emmaus (Lexi Shurynn, Jason Yerger, Abby Heilenman, Maggie Champagne) 4:02.27.

BOYS

Emmaus 113, Freedom 70

200 medley relay: 1. Freedom (AJ Bell, Colin Burnette, Brian Seitz, Tyler Higgins) 1:48.3, 2. Emmaus, 3. Emmaus;

200 freestyle: 1. AJ Bell (F) 1:52.36, 2. Tyler Higgins (F), 3. Troy Watlington (F);

200 individual medley: 1. Jack Sharp (E) 2:10.28, 2. Cole Connolly (E), 3. Spencer Smith (F);

50 freestyle: 1. Connor DeJohn (E) 22.66, 2. Ricky Thomas (E), 3. Colby Kocon (E);

Diving: 1. Andrew Vanim (E) 270.4, 2. Brendan McCourt (E), 3. Drew Stenger (E);

100 butterfly: 1. Evan Bova (E) 1:01.59, 2. Spencer Smith (F), 3. Darren Bower (E);

100 freestyle: 1. AJ Bell (F) 49.99, 2. Nathan Luey (E), 3. Cooper Kocon (E);

500 freestyle: 1. Tyler Higgins (F) 5:08.56, 2. Devin Metzger (E), 3. Colin Burnette (F);

200 freestyle relay: 1. Freedom (AJ Bell, Colin Burnette, Tyler Higgins, Brian Seitz) 1:35.79, 2. Emmaus, 3. Emmaus;

100 backstroke: 1. Ethan Carr (E) 53.37, 2. Michael Brennan, 3. Matthew Gertner (E);

100 breaststroke: 1. Nathan Lueyy (E) 1:06.10, 2. Andrew Vanimm (E), 3. Colin Burnette (F);

400 freestyle relay: 1. Emmaus (Kyle Durrwcachter, Connor DeJohn, Jason Yerger, Paul Petre) 3:32.03.