When it comes to swimming, Emmaus and Parkland are always on a collision course and that course ended last Thursday when the two schools came into their final regular season meet undefeated in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference. The winner would take home the EPC championship.

In previous seasons, the Emmaus boys had the edge over Parkland, while the Lady Trojans had pretty well handled the Lady Hornets in head-to-head competition.

This season, Emmaus not only got the boys championship, but the girls came through with an impressive 100-86 win and their first conference championship since 2008. It’s believed to be the first time since 2004 that the Emmaus girls beat Parkland in the matchup of the two rivals.

While both the boys and girls celebrated, the accomplishment of the girls win over Parkland and having both the boys and girls heading home holding a conference championship trophy, was somewhat lost on the swimmers.

“These kids were all peanut swimmers the last time we won, so they don’t even have the understanding, almost, of the magnitude of this meet and this win,” said Emmaus head coach Tim O’Connor of the girls’ win over Parkland.

For the girls, senior swimmers combined with up-and-coming young swimmers to get the win for the Lady Hornets. Sophomores Katie Champagne, Chelsea Gravereaux and Abby Heilenman each won their two individual events and Reilly King came through with a key win in the 500 freestyle event. The four senior girls, Marissa Decker, Kelly Harvey, Kaitlin Hur and Kate McPhillips all came through at various points in the meet either in relays or individual events to help cement the win.

On the boys side, Emmaus downed Parkland 98-88, holding off a late challenge from Parkland as they sought to close the gap late in the meet. After Emmaus led by 18 points through four events, Parkland battled back and trailed 72-68 after nine events. Emmaus used first- and second-place finishes by Ethan Carr and Jason Yerger in the 100 backstroke and a second-third-fourth finish by Evan Bova, Nathan Luey and Andrew Vanim, respectively, in the 100 breaststroke to push the lead back to 12, fighting off the challenge from Parkland.

“We knew this was going to get tight,” said O’Connor. “The key was to not panic and realize that we had some big events coming up where we could maybe give ourselves a little room and that’s what our boys did.”

Emmaus then took second and third places in the 400 freestyle relay, the final event of the meet, locking up the victory and the sweep for the Hornets.

In diving, seniors Jon Hansell of Parkland and Vanim of Emmaus, who have put on impressive battles during their high school careers, went back and forth throughout their six dives, with Hansell nailing his final dive and securing a 1.5 point advantage for his team. Vanim finished second, followed by Parkland’s Chris Lehman and Emmaus’ Brendan McCourt.

McCourt overcame a slow start in the meet and put on an impressive showing over his final few dives to make up ground on the scoreboard.

Emmaus’ Erin Coffey finished fourth in girls diving, followed by teammate Maddy Zorman.

The teams now have some time off before heading into their next battleground against each other. The divers will compete in the District 11 Championship this Saturday, while the swimmers will compete next weekend in districts. The diving event will be held at Emmaus, while the swimming event will be at Parkland High School.