Freedom junior Sarah Gill placed fifth out of 15 female divers at the EPC Diving Championships last Saturday at Parkland High School.

“Sarah had a good day,” said Freedom/Liberty diving coach Emily Kocis. “She’s an all- around athlete. She’s strong both physically and mentally.”

Gill’s score was 378.35.

“My two best dives were a reverse dive and a back 1.5 twist,” Gill said. “Since the last EPC meet, I switched a back 2.5 twist with a back 1.5 twist 1.5 flip, and it was a little short and my feet came apart a little bit, but overall it was better than my 2.5 twist.”

On her first five dives of the 11-dive meet, Gill felt her hurdle to be a bit off but ended the meet on a high note and called this meet her best this season.

“She overcomes difficulty or disappointment and does not let it drive the rest of the meet,” said Coach Kocis. “That’s especially important in diving. You cannot dwell on one mediocre dive or it will impact the rest of your performance during the meet.”

Bethlehem Catholic’s Anna Petke placed 10th with a score of 293.30. Liberty’s Keller Pooley placed 14th with a score of 259.35.

“Both Anna and Keller have been working over the past couple weeks on harder dives, and both of them had them in their meet today. Anna had a dive in her list that she just learned during the week leading up to the meet,” Kocis said. “As freshmen and first-year divers, they are doing exceptionally well within the conference and district for their age and time diving.”

Freedom’s Caili Connelly placed 11th with a score of 288.65, and Fallon Tatlow, also from Freedom, placed 12th with a score of 281.50.

“Fallon failed her second dive, a front double tuck. That pushed her down in the standings and she could not catch back up,” said Kocis. “Caili had a great meet. She started out strong with her inward dive and inward 1.5 and continued that momentum during the meet.”

Parkland’s Lexi Lehman won the meet with a score of 432.75, followed by Alexa Brinker whose score was 413.45 and Kate Gottwald whose score was 406.65. Both are also from Parkland.

Easton’s Olivia Jacobsen came in fourth with a score of 399.30.

The next 11-dive meet, which will be the District XI Diving Championships, is scheduled for Feb. 22 at Emmaus High School.

“For districts, I’m going to focus on making sure my hurdle gets to the end of the board because that has been causing me some trouble lately,” Gill said.