If you wanted any further proof that the Emmaus diving program is on the right path, look no further than Saturday's at the District 11 diving championships, hosted by the Hornets.

While there aren't any Emmaus divers heading to the PIAA competition next month, the Hornets came up just short and saw some of their young divers turn in strong performances to provide a lot of hope for the future.

Junior Anna Overholts came up just under nine points shy of qualifying for the PIAA meet, finishing fourth in districts just behind third place finisher Maddy Hain of Parkland. Hain's teammate, Amanda Zerphy took gold, with Easton's Kelsey Jehl finishing second.

While Overholts admitted to being disappointed, she has sent a message that she is going to be one of the contenders next season and has a shot at not just qualifying for the PIAA meet, but finishing right near the top of the district divers as well.

"I did a lot better this year than last and it gives me something to shoot for next year," said Overholts. "Two of the top divers are graduating, but there are always other kids that improve, so I think it's going to be close next year, but I think I'm in pretty good shape.

"I have to just work on technique and learn a few harder dives. A lot of the dives I did this year, I'll still be doing next year, so it's just a matter of polishing them."

Senior Serena Speer finished sixth, junior Maddie Ordiway was 11th and freshman Ally Davies finished 20th.

Davies qualified for the meet in the LVC Championships just after learning three new dives that she needed to complete to make districts in her freshman season. After conquering those dives, she made it through the first cuts at districts, which is a good start to a high school diving career.

"Ally did a great job for us today," said coach David White, who wrapped up his first season at the helm of the team. "She made it to districts as a freshman and she learned a lot this season, so I think she's going to be even better next year."

On the boys' side, Matt Bussiere finished fifth, with divers from Parkland sweeping the top four spots in districts. Bussiere, a sophomore, joined the team this season and has had to split his training time between working out with the swimmers and working with the divers. White again pointed to just competing in districts as being a big step for Bussiere and believes he and the other young divers will be strong next season.

"Matt was really shooting to keep Parkland from sweeping the top four spots, so he was disappointed that he wasn't able to do that, but he crushed his personal record and had a few dives that he scored way higher on than he's ever scored before, so as disappointed as he is, I think he knows how really great of a meet he did have," said White.

White won district gold in diving as a student at Emmaus, but didn't qualify for the meet until he was a junior, so he knows the advantage of qualifying for districts as early in your high school career as possible.

"It's huge for these young divers to get their first taste of districts, because we have three 11-dive meets throughout the year and this one is unlike the others," White said. "There's more pressure because you're scoring points for your team to go to states and once you become a more elite diver, then you know there's a trip to states on the line. So it's definitely more pressure and it's good to have that experience, especially for freshmen and sophomores."

The first-year diving coach is looking forward to a strong future for his team.

"We didn't get the spots we wanted today, but we did see strong performances and saw some personal records and some good, gritty performances," White said. "Not only do we have these kids who show a lot of potential, but they're dedicated to it and you need both to have success."