The East Penn Conference Diving Championships were held this past weekend at Parkland High School and Emmaus was represented by two young divers on the girls side.

Unfortunately, defending EPC, District 11 and PIAA champion Brendan McCourt missed the event with an illness and will set his sights on the district championships coming up on February 22.

For Emmaus, freshmen Carly Lennett and Molly O’Connor competed in their first championship event.

The girls side of the competition included 15 divers from six different EPC schools and was dominated by Parkland divers, who took the top three spots in the competition, led by Lexi Lehman, last year’s conference champion.

Both Emmaus divers successfully completed all 11 dives with Lennett finishing with a score of 278.85 and O’Connor completing the day with a score of 248.05.

Hornet diving coach Frank Donnelly was happy with how his two young divers competed in the event and is hopeful that they will both have more success as they develop.

“They both did very well, especially when you consider how young they are and the pressure that goes with a meet like this,” said Donnelly. “They still have some things that they’re working on, but they both put a lot of time in and they’re both showing constant improvement, so they’ll get there.”

Lennett is relatively new to diving after coming to the sport after competing in gymnastics and swimming. She competed in the EPC midseason event at Emmaus last month and finished with a score of 262.80.

O’Connor did not compete in that event. Sophomores Morgan Belisle and Audrey Davidson, who both competed in the midseason event did not compete in the championship. Belisle is currently out with an injury.

“There are a lot of good young divers in the area, but a lot of the best ones are now seniors, so there is going to be a void at the top of both the girls and boys diving events, so it’s an opportunity for our divers to really step up and be next in line,” stressed Donnelly.

Belisle finished eighth at the midseason event with a score of 282.50. It’s unclear whether she will be able to compete in districts, which will be held at Emmaus.

McCourt will be ready to compete at the district level and will be the favorite on the boys side coming into the event. The Texas University recruit won the midseason event by setting personal, pool and school records for an 11-dive meet, finishing with a score of 525.20.

No other boys divers from Emmaus competed in the boys competition, which was won by Parkland’s Ethan Radio, who finished second to McCourt at last month’s event.

McCourt figures to be able to advance to states in an effort to win back-to-back gold medals at the state level.

The state competition will be held March 11-12t at Bucknell University.