Taylor Iobst will be making her fourth and final trip to districts this season as a senior on the Emmaus swimming team. With all of that experience behind her, Iobst knows what to expect and knows that competing at that level doesn't get easier, but her focus to competing at the event has changed.

"Every district meet for me has been very different," said Iobst. "I wouldn't say it gets easier; the excitement's always high, the energy is always high. The pressure is variable, because as a freshman, you just want to get there. As a sophomore, you've got a little bit more experience and then my junior year, I'm an upper classmen, but you just put what you have in the pool."

The girls swim team wrapped up the home portion of their season with a 105-80 win over Whitehall and upped their season record to 7-6-1 overall and 7-2-1 in the Lehigh Valley Conference. In that meet, Iobst picked up a win in the 50-yard freestyle, a second in the 100 backstroke and was part of the 400-yard freestyle team comprised of all seniors, including Iobst, Maura Brennan, Jesse Hixson and Steph Schaeffer, that finished third in that event.

Iobst will be attending George Mason University in Virginia and will continue her swimming career. Having made her college choice fairly early, Iobst is glad that's behind her, so she can focus on finishing out her high school career before she has to give much thought to college. Emmaus coach Tim O'Connor, believes Iobst is one of those swimmers who can continue to get better and better at the college level.

"She came in as a sprint freestyler and backstroker and I am confident that she really can do a solid IM, fly and mid-distance events, so she still has many events to improve upon in college," said O'Connor. "I know she will have a great collegiate career if she continues to apply herself and work like she has. I hope she returns to be a great role model for our future swimmers who are beginning, because she was a fantastic leader this year on such a young team. We would not be where we are without her."

Since she's focusing on what lies immediately ahead, Iobst isn't focusing on what she's accomplished in high school, since that's all in the past. When she does look back, she doesn't see reason to change things that she did.

"If I was thinking at a more shallow point of view, I would say that I would do things differently, but everything that I've done that I might change," Iobst said. "I really wouldn't want to change, because I've grown and learned from that and I wouldn't be the person I am today if I wouldn't have done things the way that I did."

Iobst is one of the most introspective athletes that you can find in a high school setting. She has grown greatly during her time at Emmaus and is one of the more fierce competitors on the swimming team, while keeping it all in perspective. Throughout her career, Iobst has set high goals for herself and has sometimes needed to dial them down a little, but she is at that point where she believes she can accomplish a lot of things.

"As a coach, I love those who set goals very high and are willing to achieve them," O'Connor said. "The difficult thing is sometimes dealing with the fact that they are very high and maybe adjusting the goal. This does not mean that they are not working towards them or giving a hundred percent, but most importantly what makes someone like Taylor special is that she is learning to adjust to expectations and care about her own expectations. What a great lesson all young kids could learn - she has learned that her expectations are what matter. That is a very mature athlete as opposed to the young girl who first started here."

The senior night meet against Whitehall also included another win by the boys team to put their LVC record at 10-0 and their overall record at 12-2. Their perfect LVC season garnered them the league title, which was presented to the team immediately following their 116-45 win over Whitehall.

This year's seniors included Maura Brennan, Jesse Hixson, Taylor Iobst, Steph Scheaffer and Serena Speer on the girls side and Thomas Fang, David Larsen, Marc Primelo and Greg Ritchie among the boys.