The Northampton boys and girls teams fell to Southern Lehigh on Tuesday, Jan. 14, but the team ended the week on a higher note with a double victory over Allen on Thursday evening.

Northampton’s head coach Cullen Mentzell summed up Tuesday’s events.

“The meet went very well,” he said. “Even though we did not win we had a lot of swimmers continue to drop time.”

Among the highlights of the meet were new district championship qualifying times by Northampton’s Morgan Thomas in the 500 freestyle event and Bryce Fisher in the 200 freestyle event. Additional highlights included double first place finishes by Northampton’s Connor Oswald in the 200 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke events.

Sarah Hosking also placed first in the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke events and Olivia Szerencsits placed first in the 100 freestyle and the 200 freestyle events. Additionally, Northampton’s Bradley Chatenka, Seth Janders and Boden Burkhart placed first, second and third in the boys diving events.

Thursday evening (Jan. 16) brought an entirely different result when the Northampton relay team of Andrea Davidson, Morgan Thomas, Ava Gower and Leslie Medina started the evening with a first-place finish in the 200 medley relay. The girls win was followed immediately by a first-place finish in the boys 200 medley relay by the Northampton team of Ben Christy, Tommy Nichols, Connor Oswald and Bryce Fisher. Later in the evening, Northampton’s Allison Nemeth teamed up with Media, Szerencsits and Hosking for a victory in the 200 freestyle relay and the boys team followed once again with a win in the Men’s 200 freestyle relay. Northampton’s Amir Hamilton and Ambrose Roland joined Nichols and Oswald to secure the men’s team win.

Northampton’s relay winning streak continued with dual victories in the girls and boys 400 freestyle relay events to close out the meet. For the girls, Northampton’s Olivia Rigo and Maddie McCloskey joined Thomas and Nemeth for the final relay victory of the evening. On the boys, the team of Fisher, Roland, Hamilton and Christy claimed the final win of the night.

Additional Northampton highlights of the evening included first place finishes by Leslie Medina (100 freestyle), Ava Gower (100 backstroke), Reia Sanchez (100 breaststroke), Seth Janders (100 breaststroke). First-place victories were also claimed by Christy (100 freestyle), Thomas (200 individual medley), and Szerencsits (500 Yard Freestyle). Northampton’s Fisher, Oswald and Nichols all claimed dual first place finishes in Thursday’s meet.

This week, Northampton will host Whitehall for another Cement Belt Challenge competition on Thursday, Jan. 23, at the Gwen L. Whildin Natatorium beginning at 4 p.m.