Liberty and Freedom’s swim teams had four individual gold medal winners at the District XI Class 3A Swimming Championships on Saturday and Sunday at Emmaus High School.

On Saturday, Liberty senior Robert Negron won the 50 free with a time of 20.63.

“I was happy that I won, but I was a little disappointed because I couldn’t see half the race because my goggles came off and my contacts came out, so at one point I was completely blind, but I think I did pretty good for that,” Negron said. “I swam in a lot of situations where things just didn’t go right, and you’ve just got to swim through them, so I think I was well-prepared.”

Negron also won the 50 free gold last year.

“I was a little nervous going into it because when you win the 50 free and you’re expected to win it, and then it didn’t really go the way I planned, but everything went well,” he said.

Also on Saturday, Freedom junior Al Bell won the 200 free with a time of 1:43.97.

“I would have been happy with a 1:41, but I’m not shaved or rested for this week,” Bell said. “I think I expected too much coming in. I’m going to get a lot more rest [for states]. [It felt close] which I’m glad because on my club team, my friends got second and third, so it went one-two-three.”

On Sunday, Liberty junior Jake Evert won the 100 free with a time of 46.18, out touching Parkland’s Matthew Ceh who finished in 46.24.

“I was doing terrible splits earlier in the warm-ups, but I had a different mentality going into this race,” said Evert. “I was more relaxed. I was like, whatever happens, happens. I’m just going to do my best, and it worked out pretty well for me. I was a little bit nervous about [Matt Ceh from Parkland]. I know he’s fast, but I’ve never raced him before, so I didn’t know what to expect.

Evert won the silver medal in the 100 free last year, but gold made all the difference this year.

“It feels better!” Evert said.

In the last individual event at districts, Liberty senior Chris Chambers won the 100 breaststroke by more than one second with a time of 58.54.

“I was thinking about the 100 breaststroke as soon as I got up at 8:00 this morning,” said Chambers. “It was my first individual gold medal. I was pretty ecstatic about that.”

Chambers was hoping to break the school record of 58.18.

“I was feeling really good in the water in the warm-up sessions. I didn’t make that record, but first place at districts isn’t bad,” Chambers said. “Breaststroke is one of those strokes where you have to stare at the bottom of the pool and push yourself. If you start looking around, you’re going to go slower. I hope I get to break the record at states.”

Negron, Bell, Evert, and Chambers will compete at the PIAA State Class 3A Swimming Championships next week at Bucknell University.