Echoing what took place in the EPC Diving Championship, Parkland girls took the top four spots in the District 11 Diving meet at Emmaus High School last weekend. Lexi Lehman, the top finisher, and second place Alexa Brinker guaranteed themselves spots in the PIAA Diving Championships later this month. Kate Gottwald finished third and Kaitlyn Smykowski finished fourth for the Lady Trojans.

On the boys side, Chris Lehman missed a trip to states in his senior season, but put on a strong enough showing to finish fourth in the event. Jon Hansell finished fifth, with Kole Cannon placing sixth and Devon Cahill coming in eighth in district diving. Nazareth’s Steven Stasolla won the competition with Emmaus’ Andrew Vanim placing second to guarantee themselves spots in states. Vanim’s teammate, Brendan McCourt placed third.

“I am so in shock,” said Lexi Lehman after accepting both her gold medal and the Dennis McGinley Award as the meet’s top female diver. “I didn’t think I would make it. It’s really scary to be heading to states. I’ve been at Bucknell before, but to actually be competing in states there is the craziest thing ever.”

Maybe the biggest compliment came from Lehman’s big brother, Chris, who competed at states in each of the past two seasons, finishing 13th last season after finishing 14th in 2015.

“She did absolutely great,” said Chris Lehman. “I’m really happy for her and how well she’s done this season.”

Brinker will also be making her first trip to states and needed a late surge to pass teammate Gottwald to earn the trip to Bucknell University, where the PIAA meet will be held.

“I knew it was going to be close and that dive was probably the best that I could do it, so I just had to wait and see,” said Brinker. “It’s really exciting and I’m really happy. The beginning was really rough, but toward the end I really got my confidence and was much happier with my performance.”

Brinker was in third place coming into the final round, but nailed her final dive gaining a score of 49.20 to put pressure on teammate Gottwald for her final dive. Gottwald scored a 31.25, which left her just under seven points behind her teammate in the standings. Gottwald could gain an entry to states, depending how the seeding and scoring works out.

Parkland diving coach Cary Lehman was pleased with how his son and daughter performed, and with the performance of all of the Parkland divers in the event.

“Really, they all gave a good performance and I couldn’t be happier,” said coach Lehman. “We’ve got a lot of talented kids who work really hard and it shows with how well they develop.”

The girls sweep gives them a distinct advantage going into the swimming portion of districts, which will be held Friday and Saturday at Parkland High School. The Parkland team comes in with a total of 68 points, with Easton having 38, Freedom 18 and Liberty and Southern Lehigh both at 14 points. On the boys side, Parkland still edged out rival Emmaus, picking up 53 points to the Hornets’ 42 points. Nazareth picked up 20 points, with Easton collecting 13, Southern Lehigh 12, Liberty eight and Northampton six.

The Parkland girls will be looking for their ninth straight District 11 Championship, and their 13th in the last 14 seasons.

“It’s disappointing [not making states], but overall, we did really well and gave our team some points going into the district swimming, so I’m happy about that,” said Chris Lehman.