The Northampton varsity swimming and diving team faced off Tuesday night against local rival Whitehall High School.

The K-Kids welcomed the Zephyrs to the Gwen L. Whildin Memorial Natatorium for a meet that ended with definitive Northampton wins for both the boys and girls teams.

Head Coach Cullen Mentzell continues to applaud the hard work and dedication of the team as he commented, “Our kids swam really well against Whitehall. Over 50 percent of our swims were best times on the season and most were lifetime bests.”

Mentzell added, “[the team has] been receptive at practice and it is great to see them getting better.”

Several of the Northampton swimmers are new to the team this year but are lending a hand by accumulating points and contributing of the K-Kids scores. For the girls team, freshman Toni Bubier has show marked improvements in the 100 backstroke event, placing third in Tuesday’s contest. Freshman Liv Jusinski also contributed with a second-place finishes in both the girls 200 and 500 Freestyle events while fellow first-year teammate Hannah Malseed had a notable showing in the girls 500 freestyle event, placing fourth.

Northampton’s co-captain Ava Gower placed first in both of her individual events on Tuesday (the 200 individual medley and 100 butterfly), while co-captain Andrea Davidson claimed first in the 500 freestyle. Other first place finishes for the girls were made by Gabriella Oswald with firsts in the 50 freestyle sprint and 100 freestyle, Ava Keenan placed first in the 100 breaststroke and Brenna Caley was first to the wall in the 200 freestyle event. The girls also prevailed in the relay events, taking first place in each of the three relay races on Tuesday evening.

On the boys side, Brett Bastian has made huge improvements in his backstroke according to Mentzell, helping to give Northampton the majority of points earned in the 100 backstroke event. Northampton’s Micah Sommons, Gabe Gower and Bastian took second through fourth place respectively in the backstroke event.

In other notable performances for the boys, Northampton’s Ryan Franke placed first in the 200 freestyle event and Ethan Brobst went four-for-four with best times in two individual and two relay events against Whitehall. Brobst claimed a first-place finish in the 200 medley relay team along with relay teammates Sommons, Jacob Ladd and Andy Szeplaki and the Kids relay team of Franke, Ladd, Andy Szeplaki and Nick Isaac placed first in the 200 freestyle relay event.

Northampton’s divers continue to do more than secure points with their exceptional diving performances, they “also contribute big with swimming,” according to Mentzell.

Northampton’s Isabella Kish and Abigail Gutkowski placed first and second in the 1 meter diving event and K-Kids co-captain Boden Burkhart along with Andy Szeplaki and Alex Szeplaki placed first through third respectively in the 1 meter dive on Tuesday.

The divers then went on to garner additional points with solid performances in individual and relay swimming events.

Looking forward, Northampton will welcome Louis E Dieruff High School for a home meet on Tuesday, Jan. 17 at 4 p.m.