Swimming has always been a part of Jesse Hixson's life.

She started the sport at a young age and has continued with her passion through high school. The Emmaus senior competes in both individual and relay events and says the 200 freestyle relay is her favorite.

Hixson's senior season has had its ups and downs. The up part actually started late last season when she put on a late push and showed improvement in her times. Coming into the season, Hixson was a strong part of the team, but her times have suffered lately, mainly because of oral surgery that she had to remove wisdom teeth. With that behind her, she is showing improving times, just in time for the late season surge into districts.

"That [the surgery] definitely hurt. It set me back, but now, my times are coming back up and I'm almost back where I was before missing that time," said Hixson.

Her return to form is coming just in time, with the season down to three meets before the district meets begin. At 5-6 overall and 5-2 in the Lehigh Valley Conference, the girls team needs a late season push and it's not going to be easy, with meets against a strong Liberty team on Thursday and the season-ending meet against North Penn. Hixson believes that she's not only at a good point personally, but that the team is in position to do well.

"We have a lot of strong swimmers and if we stick together and focus, we can definitely do well," said Hixson. "We know Liberty is going to come after us. We lost to Easton earlier in the season and Liberty is hoping that they can beat us, so it's going to be tough, but I think we'll come out of it pretty well."

Coach Tim O'Connor believes that Hixson can make a late push and be a key part of his team.

"Jesse improved so much at the end of last season and we were looking forward to her jumping out to a great start her senior season and she really did," said O'Connor. "However, needing oral surgery over winter break really hurt her and she really needs to have a good next two weeks to see how she plans to approach our district meet."

After her high school career, Hixson is planning on pursuing a degree in marketing, with public relations as a backup. For now, she's considering Temple University and Indiana University of Pennsylvania for college. She had also been considering Coastal Carolina, but has ruled that out.

"I just decided it was too far from home. I want to stick closer to home than that," she said.

O'Connor agrees with Hixson that the meet against Liberty is going to be an important one for his team. Both the boys and girls teams picked up strong wins over Northampton this past week and the boys also beat Wilson West Lawn last weekend, while the girls lost to Wilson. On the season, the boys are now 9-2 and 7-0 in the LVC, tying them with Liberty as the only two undefeated teams in LVC competition. The Liberty boys and girls are both 10-0 overall and 7-0 in the LVC coming into Thursday's meet.

"Things are going well with the team. This is going to be a big week, with Liberty coming to our pool on Thursday," said O'Connor. "They're very strong on the girls side, so it will be a challenge to see if we've improved."