The Parkland girls swimming team had no answer for a buzzing bevy of Emmaus swimmers in a 113-73 defeat during their Feb. 14 battle at Parkland High School. With the victory, the Green Hornets claimed the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference title and capped an undefeated 11-0 season and went 11-2 overall. The Trojans finished 9-1 in conference and 10-1 overall.

“Us versus Emmaus is two different worlds this year,” said coach Robert Robitaille before the meet. “They have a lot of seniors, we have a lot of freshman so we have a lot of young kids that are going to have to step up if we are going to be successful. Same way for districts.”

On this day, however, the disparity between the young Trojans and the experienced Hornets proved too much.

“We’ve been coming along and advancing,” the coach said. “Our young kids are doing what they can, but we have been progressing it’s just that we’re so small these days and we need to progress a lot.”

There were some bright spots for Parkland, among them a solid performance by Kayla Johnson, who won the 200-freestyle with a time of 1:58.63 over Emmaus’ Reilly King and Avery King.

Ally Lin also did not disappoint, giving a throng of Parkland supporters in attendance a reason to stand and cheer when she won the 200 individual medley in 2:07.05, easily defeating the Hornets’ Katie Champagne by more than six seconds. But Lin was just getting warmed up. Using a combination of technique and skill, the talented Lin claimed the 500 freestyle in a time of 5:05.33.

So dominant was her performance, that she had enough time to catch her breath and take in the thunderous roar of approval from Trojan nation for a full 14 seconds before Emmaus’ Reilly King touched for second place at 5:19.33.

Parkland’s girls squad also received a good effort from Devn Corvaia, who finished second to Emmaus’ Champagne at 1:04.09 in the 100-backstroke.

“We grind. Every day is hard,” Robitaille said of what impressed him about his Parkland squad this year. “They’re mentally tough. They have to put up with me all the time.”

In diving, junior Katharine Gottwald won the meet with execution and grace with 274.55 points ahead of junior teammates Alexa Brinker (259.70) and Lexi Lehman (2:41.20).

“We’re coming along all right,” said Robitaille in assessing the Trojans’ performance this season. “I would have liked to have seen a little bit go better, but you know the season always has walls in them.”

Emmaus 113, Parkland 73

200 medley relay: 1. Emmaus (Katie Champagne, Lauren Sharp, Chelsea Gravereaux, Abby Heilenman) 1:48.41, 2. Emmaus (Bella Buchman, Chloe Vlaeminck, Mya Puentas, Maggie Champagne), 3. Parkland (Devon Corvaia, Ally Lin, Natalie Link, Laurel Krause).

200 freestyle: 1. Kayla Johnson (P) 1:58.63, 2. Reilly King (E), 3. Avery King (E).

200 individual medley: 1. Ally Lin (P) 2:07.05, 2. Katie Champagne (E), 3. Lauren Sharp (E).

Diving: 1. Katherine Gottwald (P) 274.55, 2. Alexa Brinker (P), 3. Lexi Lehman (P).

50 freestyle: 1. Abby Heilenman (E) 25.03, 2. Peyton Rautzhan (E), 3. Laurel Krause (P).

100 butterfly: 1. Chelsea Gravereaux (E) 57.72, 2. Mya Puentes (E), 3. Hillary Roth (P).

100 freestyle: 1. Abby Heilenman (E) 54.05, 2. Kayla Johnson (P), 3. Peyton Rautzhan (E).

500 freestyle: 1. Ally Lin (P) 5:05.33, 2. Reilly King (E), 3. Olivia Stevenson (P).

200 freestyle relay: 1. Emmaus (Abby Heilenman, Peyton Rautzhan, Maggie Champagne, Chelsea Gravereaux) 1:39.66, 2. Parkland (Devon Corvaia, Kia Colarusso, Olivia Stevenson, Kayla Johnson), 3. Emmaus (Avery King, Reilly King, Claire Engel, Caroline Nelson).

100 backstroke: 1. Katie Champagne (E) 59.8, 2. Devon Corvaia (P), 3. Mya Puentes (E).

100 breaststroke: 1. Lauren Sharp (E) 1:09.14, 2. Chloe Vlaekminck (E), 3. Laryssa White (E).

400 freestyle relay: 1. Emmaus (Avery King, Peyton Rautzhan, Chelsea Gravereaux, Katie Champagne) 3:39.30, 2. Parkland (Kayla Johnson, Kira Colarusso, Laurel Krause, Ally Lin), 3. Emmaus (Reilly King, Mya Puentas, Lauren Sharp, Lexi Shuryn).