Saturday marked the last time Ethan Radio was going to compete as a high school diver in the Lehigh Valley.

He wanted to make the most of it and the Parkland senior accomplished that goal. Radio repeated as district champ, scoring 458.1 points to cruise to the title over teammate Ryan Beltrame, who scored 336.1 for second place Saturday at Emmaus High School.

“I came in a little bit nervous,” said Radio. “In the end it all paid off. I calmed myself down and everything went smoothly as I hoped it would.

“Sometimes I just get nervous about big meets like this that kind of count for something. Usually I get them under control. When I get on the board it’s like my second home. It relaxes me.”

Radio, who made his fourth appearance at districts and picked up the fourth district medal of his career. He finished third as a freshman, second as a sophomore and won the event the past two seasons.

This year he settled in and improved on the 452.9 score than earned him last year’s District 11 gold medal.

“I definitely did well with adjusting,” Radio said of his performance Saturday. “The first couple dives were a little rough, not what I would like them to have been. So I adjusted to that. I really liked how I was able to change my mindset and change my adjustments to what the judges liked and what I thought was a lot better.”

Radio, who will continue his diving career at the University of Pittsburgh, has been diving for eight years, since he was introduced to the sport by his sister, Kayleigh, during the summer season at Westwood Heights. He took an immediate liking to the sport and has been getting better ever since.

He had his best season this winter. He broke the Parkland school records for six dives (328.65) and 11 dives (526.95).

“I’m very proud of myself,” he said. “I broke two records this year. I’m really happy I could do that. I kind of wanted to do it last year. I didn’t get it last year so I was kind of upset about that but this year I really stepped up and did that.”

He will return to the state meet after placing fourth there the past two seasons. He said he doesn’t have a goal for any certain place or score at states, preferring to focus on diving his best rather than the outcome.

His final meet in the Lehigh Valley had a bittersweet feeling Saturday at Emmaus.

“I came in not thinking of it but when the last rounds were coming up I started thinking about ‘wow, it’s really my last one,”’ Radio said. “Then I did my last dive and it was the best I could have done it and I was really happy about that.”

Beltrame, a junior, has one year to go before realizing that feeling for himself.

In his third trip to the district championships Beltrame had his best finish, beating third-place Boden Burkhart (Northampton) by nearly 25 points to secure second place.

“It started off not as well but the more dives I did the more comfortable I felt,” he said. “Overall I did pretty good”

Radio and Beltrame finished first and second, respectively, in every meet this year, including the recent East Penn Conference Championships.

Beltram will compete in the state championship meet for the first time in his high school career.

“Really excited,” he said. “I’m excited to dive more and get better as a diver and hopefully do well at states.”

Like Radio, Beltrame knows some of his competition at states based on diving against them outside of high school events.

“With club diving, diving with some of the best divers in the country I do have experience a little bit,” said Beltrame. “I think I’m ready for it.”

Parkland’s Brad Kunz also earned a medal at districts with a fourth-place finish and a score of 280.85 Saturday.

In girls diving, Parkland’s Nicole Stofko took third place at 336.4. Easton’s Rachel Marcus won girls Class 3A diving with a score of 379.8. Keller Pooley (Liberty) was second at 369.85, while Madison Cunard (Easton) finished fourth at 324.1.