The Northampton boys swimming and Diving team scored one point for Northampton in the Cement Belt Challenge this week with a narrow win over Whitehall while the girls were edged out, losing to the Zephs by just two points.

It was a hard-fought battle for both teams last Thursday night when Whitehall traveled to Northampton for a rival swim meet that both teams look forward to each year. Scores were very close all night but, in the end, the NHS boys won 92-91 and the girls lost 86-84.

Northampton started strong with double wins in the 200 medley relay. The team of Andrea Davidson, Ava Gower, Sarah Hosking and Olivia Szerencsits bested Whitehall’s by almost 5 seconds. The boys relay team of Tommy Nichols, Conner Oswald, Bryce Fisher and Ben Christy followed with another decisive first-place finish.

Morgan Thomas claimed the first individual victory of the night for Northampton with a district qualifying time of 2:08.53 in the 200 freestyle event. Next, Northampton claimed dual wins in the 200 individual medley with Tommy Nichols in first place for the boys team and Sarah Hosking in first for the girls. Nichols and Hosking would go on to achieve wins later in the meet; Hosking with a first in the 100 breaststroke and Nichols in first-place in the 100 backstroke event. Olivia Szerencsits added to the list of individual first place finishes with wins in the 50 freestyle and the 100 butterfly and Oswald was first to the wall in the boys 100 breaststroke event.

The Northampton boys divers added to the win with a first-place finish by Brad Chatenka. Northampton’s Seth Janders claimed second place in the diving events and Northampton’s Boden Burkhart claimed third.

In the second half of the meet, Northampton lost a little ground with three events going to Whitehall but the Kids would regain momentum with the 500 freestyle events and dual first-place finishes by Thomas and Fisher. Northampton continued with firsts in the girls and boys 200 freestyle relay. The girls team of Hosking, Thomas, Szerencsits and Leslie Medina beat the Whitehall squad by just over a second and the boys team of Ambrose Roland, Amir Hamilton, Myles Merced and Brody Lane bested Whitehall by more than two seconds.

As close contests often do, this battle came down to the wire with the outcome of the meet resting on the final event, the 400 freestyle relay. Spectators of high school swimming know that this final event is always exciting but with Cement Belt Challenge points hanging in the balance and a longtime local rivalry at stake, these final events seemed to hold increased electricity.

The girls team of Thomas, Gower, Davidson and Medina came out with an early lead and gave it their all but lost the event to Whitehall by just over one second. The boys team jumped into the last event of the evening with the team of Nichols, Christy, Fisher and Oswald seizing a first-place finish by just a fraction of a second.

Northampton head coach Cullen Mentzell summed up the battle with apparent pride in what the team had achieved.

“The girls swim team lost to Whitehall but they gave one heck of an effort,” commented Mentzell. “All four girls in the 400 free relay team had lifetime best splits for the 100 Free.”

Mentzell continued, with similar recognition for the boys.

“Same on the boys’ side, for the boys who won the 400 free relay; Tommy, Ben, Bryce and Connor all had lifetime best splits to win that relay by a slim margin.”

Northampton hosts its last meet of the season next week with a home meet against Nazareth on Thursday, Feb. 6 at 4 p.m.