The first EPC Diving Meet of the season was held on Jan. 11 at Emmaus High School where five female divers from Freedom, Liberty, and Bethlehem Catholic placed in the top 12 out of 17 competitors.

“It was a great day for all of them,” said Coach Emily Kocis. “They all did very well and kept it all very well put together with some very strong dives.”

Freedom’s Sarah Gill took fourth place with a score of 357.75. Also from Freedom, Fallon Tatlow was sixth with 305.25 points and Cailin Connelly was 10th with 259.45 points.

Liberty’s Keller Pooley placed 11th with 256.30 points, and Becahi’s Anna Petke was 12th with 246.30 points.

“Keller, on her front somersault, put it perfectly in, straight up and down on her feet. Fallon ended the meet strong with a nice front dive straight, and then Sarah did a lot of her dives that she hasn’t competed with yet this year,” Kocis said.

“Caili does very strong on her fronts and her reverses. She gets off the board very nicely. Anna, because of her gymnastics background, does very well on her twisting.”

Tatlow, a senior, could feel her improvement from years past.

“It felt really good to see where I stood among the other girls. I do an inward dive and an inward one-and-a-half. My inward dive’s in pike, and I think that’s my strongest dive. I’ve gotten a nine on that dive before. I got seven’s today,” said Tatlow. “I’m still working on my reverse one-and-a-halfs and trying to add an extra somersault to some of my twists.”

Parkland’s Lexi Lehman won the meet with a score of 460.20, followed by teammates Kate Gottwald and Alexa Brinker.

The next EPC Diving Meet is scheduled for Feb. 8.