The Northampton varsity swim team took on a tough competitor when they welcomed Parkland High School for a home meet on Thursday, Jan. 25.

And, though the overall meet ended with a Parkland win, Northampton saw several individual victories.

Swimming is a sport based on fractions of a second last Thursday’s meet was no exception. As Northampton’s swimmers took to the blocks they knew this type of competition would push them to reach new heights, and that’s exactly what happened with two pool-record caliber swims from Northampton’s Sarah Hosking and Brynne Rockovits in the 200 individual medley.

These Northampton swimmers fought hard, ultimately taking second and third place respectively. Hosking took second place by less than a second with a time that exceeded her own pool record set earlier this year by over two seconds.

In the same race, Rockovits came a fraction of a second away of the existing pool record. Both swimmers rose to the occasion in this event, but their times would be superseded by an even faster Parkland first place time, which took the official pool record in that race. The event was won by Annie Walls with a time of 2:13.97.

This same competitive spirit spurred individual wins throughout the evening for Northampton. Bryce Fisher qualified for the district championship for the first time in the 500 freestyle. Northampton’s Jarin Gaumer claimed first place in the boys 100 freestyle with a hard-fought victory that came down to just seven-tenths of a second. Northampton’s Greg Milnes claimed victory in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:01.75 and Rockovits took a decisive first place in the girls 100 freestyle with a four-second victory.

Northampton head coach Cullen Mentzell was pleased with the team’s performance as he highlighted several individual victories to his team.

“I told the team to work on improving seed times for districts for their individual events and relays and that’s exactly what we focused on tonight,” explained Mentzell. “Sarah’s IM, Brynne’s 100 free and Bryce qualifying for districts were all huge tonight.”

Looking forward, Northampton continues a tough schedule with meets against Southern Lehigh and Emmaus in the coming week, but Mentzell is keeping the team focused on the fundamentals.

“We’re working on turns and finishes and increasing their pace,” said Mentzel. “The goal is just to get them moving”.

Northampton travels to Emmaus High School for an away meet on Thursday, Feb. 1st.