After a long layoff over the Christmas-New Year break, Whitehall’s swim team hosted Northampton on Jan. 6 when the Zephyr girls won, 111-55, and the Northampton boys won, 119-50.

“I was really happy,” said Whitehall coach Emma Billings. “There were a lot of personal bests. We knew the girls were gonna do pretty well score-wise, and we knew the boys were gonna struggle a little bit. We hadn’t competed since Dec. 21. There was a span where we had four meets in eight days, which is a lot on them. By the time we got to the end of it, they were exhausted, so I think it was a good thing to have some time without competition.”

Whitehall’s Greta O’Brien had the first win for the girls team with a 2:18.08 victory in the 200 freestyle.

Kendall Bashore won the 200 IM in 2:28.61 and the 100 butterfly in 1:07.15, and Kyra Giedl took first place in the 50 free in 27.84 and the 100 free in 1:02.10.

“I felt it, that I was kind of speeding up and then [Northampton] was falling behind, and that motivated me to go faster. It was a few seconds off my best, but overall, it’s pretty good,” said Giedl, regarding the 100 free. “My [50 free] went really well, so I felt really good going into this one. Competition is really motivational, having someone there to push you.”

O’Brien won the 500 free in 6:21.55 and then anchored the winning 200 free relay team that included Bashore, Ryann Giedl, and Kyra Giedl with a time of 1:54.71.

Jenna Giedl pulled ahead in the third lap to place first in the 100 breaststroke in 1:23.50.

O’Brien, Jenna Giedl, Bella Molina, and Kyra Giedl ended the girls meet with a first place finish in the 400 free relay in 4:23.15.

While Northampton’s boys swept the individual events, Whitehall’s boys won the 200 free relay with Griffin Werner, Sebastian Lora, Cameron Herring, and Johnny Stinner with a time of 1:40.24.

Lora, who swam second in the relay, came out of nowhere to take the lead away from Northampton.

“Before the meet, my friend and I said we were both gonna do back-to-back 24s, so I had to make it happen,” Lora said. “I’m not sure if it was the water, but I saw a shadow on my left and had to speed up. I felt great. I looked up at the time, I saw 24, and I was happy. First, you have to set the precedent, last, you have to make up for whatever’s lost, but second and third, you just try to keep the lead that the first person gives you.”

Coach Billings said that Lora had the meet of his life.

“He did an amazing time in the individual 50 free. He went 25.8, and that was the first time we’d seen that with him. And then he went into his 200 free relay and dropped another second. We were not expecting him to go a 24. His goal was 26, and he surpassed that, so it was just really exciting to see him go that. Breaststroke, he’s been working on all season, and to see him drop seven seconds made me really happy,” she said.