Parkland divers found a lot of success at the midseason Eastern Pennsylvania Conference diving event held at Emmaus High School this past Saturday. Of the eight divers entered by Parkland – the most of any school – four girls swept the top spots and the boys had three finishers in the top six.

Alexa Brinker won the girls competition, finishing ahead of Lexi Lehman, Kate Gottwald and Serena Johnson. On the boys side, Chris Lehman was fourth, Kole Cannon fifth and Devin Cahill sixth. Jack Blommell finished 11th in the event for Parkland.

Throughout the 11 dives, the four Parkland girls held on to spots in the top four, with some jockeying for position among the foursome. Johnson got off to an early lead and was ahead after two rounds before Brinker took over first for the rest of the meet. Lexi Lehman had fallen to fourth before being awarded a 47.15 in the fourth round that moved her into second place, where she would stay for the rest of the event.

Gottwald, who had fallen to fourth, slowly made up ground on Johnson as the two traded quality dives throughout the middle of the event, before Gottwald took over third after seven dives, remaining there through the final rounds.

“We all really push each other in practice, and in events like this,” said Brinker. “It’s a friendly competition though, because we all want each other to do well and we all root for each other.”

The meet allows divers to get a gauge on where they stand compared to other divers around the EPC. With the conference meet less than a month away, divers and coaches can pinpoint areas where they need to improve.

“I can use this to see what I need to brush up on for districts and states,” said Gottwald. “I probably wouldn’t train as hard or have as much motivation as I do if it weren’t for my teammates and how we challenge each other. It seems like every time out, we have Parkland girls in the top three spots, so you have a lot of motivation.”

Brinker, Lehman and Gottwald will have a lot of time to improve and motivate each other, considering that all three are freshman divers. Johnson is a senior and has been through pressure meets before, so she is able to serve as a role model for the younger divers. Johnson qualified for states last season and finished 16th in the competition.

With the three young divers all coming up together, they’ve become good friends and have been able to learn from each other. They’ve also gotten to know each other’s dives and can spot little things that the others are doing before they turn into a problem.

“Watching Alexa, I saw how her front dives were getting much better and I was able to evaluate what she was doing different that was making her better,” said Lexi Lehman. “That got me to think about what I need to do to make my dives better just by watching and learning from her. We all do that a lot.”

On the boys side, Chris Lehman led after each of the first three rounds, but Nazareth’s Steven Stasolla caught him with a spectacular fourth round dive. In that same round, Emmaus’ Brendan McCourt and Andrew Vanim also had big dives to move closer in points before eventually being able to catch Lehman. Stasolla was the top diver on the boys side, with McCourt and Vanim finishing second and third, respectively.

Cannon, who is a freshman, was consistent throughout the meet, finishing fourth in points.