The last number of years, there have been two distinct stories on the Emmaus swim team.

The boys side has dominated and has been winning league and district titles, while the girls have come up short and Parkland has stepped into a dominant role in girls swimming. That puts a target on the boys team and gives the girls added incentive to improve their standing.

"Our boys team has been winning district and league titles for a number of years now, so the expectation is high for them and I wouldn't have it any other way," said head coach Tim O'Connor.

"On the girls side, they tied a meet last year and lost a meet that they should have won. It's not that we took a step back, it's just that the whole league is getting better and I don't shy away from that challenge, but now we have to respond and be better."

For her part, senior Grace Bova believes that the team learned some tough lessons from last year and won't make the same mistakes again this season.

"I think last year was almost good for us, because it kind of put us back in line and we're not going into it thinking that we will definitely win everything and we need to bring our A-game to every meet," said Bova, who steps up into a leadership role that she's comfortable in having with the team.

"I feel comfortable [as a leader] and seeing other seniors over the years and how they handled different situations definitely helped me to be able to develop," said Bova.

This year's team saw a record number of swimmers try out for the team and out of that group, O'Connor believes that it has a core group who is good now and will continue to get better.

"We have about 10 new kids this year, which is great," said O'Connor. "We haven't had that in a long time and I think it's a credit to John Larsen and all of our high school coaching staff being involved with EMAC [Emmaus Aquatic Club] and helping to reseed our program.

"The girls side is not as deep as the boys and we've known that for the last couple of years, but it really is gelling like a nice team right now. I think a lot of our freshmen on the girls side from last year made huge strides during the offseason and that impressed me."

The boys team continued its dominance of the local swimming scene last year with an 11-2 record and its ninth straight Lehigh Valley Conference title and sixth straight District 11 title. Four key swimmers graduated from the boys team, but O'Connor has three individual district champions returning this year, in addition to the infusion of strong underclassmen.

Senior Robert Bishop has seen how each year the program reloads with young swimmers and relies on the senior class to help teach them the ropes.

"It's really great, because when we lose seniors, we have this new crop of swimmers coming in that train hard and can keep us strong," explained Bishop.

Last season, Bishop was a state qualifier and likes what he sees from this year's edition of the team and believes that the team will be ready to compete again this season. Personally, he plans on doing what he can to help the team be better.

"Last year I got to go to the state meet and I was in the top 24 for 100 fly," he said. "So if I can improve on that and keep improving my times in relays to help the team, I'll reach my goals for the year."

The season opens Friday against Freedom and continues with a trip to Whitehall next Wednesday before the team comes hope to go up against Dieruff and then host one of the best rivalries in local high school sports when Parkland comes in on December 21.

Bova believes that her final meet against the Trojans will be one of the highlights of her high school career.

"I'm definitely looking forward to the Parkland meet," she said. "Because there's so much competition and rivalry and we're going to have the whole pool decked out, so it's going to be great."