The Emmaus boys swim team took first at the District 11 Championships this past weekend at Parkland High School. The win extends Emmaus' streak of championships to an unprecedented six straight and eight of the last 10. The girls team had a strong meet as well, finishing second to rival Parkland in the team competition.

"It was a great meet for us," said coach Tim O'Connor. "I'm very, very pleased with how our teams swam overall. Our boys felt that they didn't give Parkland their best during the dual meet and I thought we didn't really give our best [on Friday] either. And I challenged my boys today to show up and give them the same kind of spirit that they were showing us and I'm very pleased with how the boys responded."

Emmaus junior Cody Wimmer was honored during the meet when he received the award as the Swimmer of the Year in the Lehigh Valley Conference. The award came as a surprise to Wimmer and even his coaches didn't let on that he was the winner.

"A couple minutes before the award, the coaches told me, 'Get your green and gold on and listen,' but they wouldn't tell me what was going on," laughed Wimmer. "So when they presented the award, I was kind of surprised."

While the award may have come as a surprise to Wimmer, O'Connor wasn't surprised that his standout swimmer had garnered enough points during the season to capture the league honor.

"That is a true award, because there is so much competition now from around the league and the district is much tougher," O'Connor said. "So for the swimmers that got those awards, it really is well deserved and Cody did an amazing job this year and worked hard to be as good as he is."

Carter Paules earned a trip to states by winning the 100-yard breaststroke. Even though he's going as a sophomore, he's not the first in his family to head to states in the event. His brother, Evan, went as a senior last season.

"It's my first trip to states, but my brother went last year, so I know at least a little bit about what to expect," Paules said. "My goal this year was just to break one minute, so I reached my goal [58.82 seconds] and it came at a good time."

The girls may have finished second, but they put on a strong showing after losing some close meets during the season. Again, it was a challenge from O'Connor that helped to spur the girls onto a strong second day at districts, which secured second place for the team.

"I knew the real battle was going to be between Easton and Liberty and Whitehall and us, so I told the girls, 'You tied Liberty and lost to Easton; you've got a chance,'" O'Connor said. "And those girls came out right from the start and really separated themselves from the pack and they followed up with a great day two and I couldn't be more pleased with them."

Sophomore Morgan Weigner erased three seconds off her best qualifying time in the 100-yard breaststroke to capture gold in the event. Weigner went to states last year in both the breast and individual medley.

"Every meet is a new challenge, so you can't take anything for granted," said Weigner when asked about how she battled to win a return trip to states. "I'm glad I went last year, because now, I'll know what to expect a little more and it's another chance to compete, so I'm very happy."

Wimmer holds the highest individual seeding among Emmaus swimmers, with the fourth seed in the boys 500 free. Paules will be seeded 10th in the 100 breast and Andrew Bond will enter the 200 IM as the 12 seed. The boys 200 medley relay team comes in seeded 10th in that event.

For the girls, Weigner is the lone Emmaus swimmer seeded among the top 16 in any event, coming in 12th in the 100 breast.

Other Emmaus swimmers, including, Maura Brennan (200 IM), Taylor Iobst (100 back), Natalie Schaeffer (500 free), Wimmer (200 free), Paules (200- IM), Greg Ritchie (50 and 100 free), Robert Bishop (200 butterfly) and Bond (500 free), also qualified for states, but will have to fight their way through preliminaries. The girls 200 medley relay team also qualified for preliminaries.

The PIAA Championships for Class 3A schools - including Emmaus - take place March 15th and 16th at Bucknell University in Lewisburg.