The Northampton varsity swimming and diving team had a strong finish to their 2022-2023 season with two close meets, several individual wins, and two medals in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Diving Meet this past week.

The culmination of this season started with a girls win over Stroudsburg on Feb. 9. In the first meeting of these two teams earlier this season, both Northampton teams lost to Stroudsburg on the road. Northampton head coach Cullen Mentzell predicted that the K-Kids could “turn the tables” when they faced Stroudsburg a second time at home and the girls did just that. The Northampton women bested Stroudsburg 103-75 in last Thursday’s meet with the boys losing 103-80.

Saturday, Feb. 11 the diving team traveled to Parkland for the EPC League Diving Championship. Senior Captain Boden Burkhart continued a solid senior season as he twisted and tucked his way to a third-place medal in the 1 meter competition. Burkhart is currently ranked 4th overall in PIAA District XI AAA scores for the 1-meter, 6-dive event. Burkhart’s high score of 215.15 is just .65 points below the 3rd ranked diver, Ian Berry from Easton Area High School. For the girls, Bella Kish had a great performance in Saturday’s meet with a 4th place finish in the women’s 1-meter diving event. Kish is currently ranked 5th in the PIAA District XI AAA scores for the women’s 1 meter, 6-dives format with a high score of 172.85 points.

In the final meet of the season against Easton, the diving team continued to make a splash with Burkhart securing a first-place finish, followed by Northampton divers Andrew Szeplaki and Alex Szeplaki in 2nd and 3rd place. For the girls, Kish placed second with Northampton’s Abigail Gutkowski in 6th for the women’s 1-meter diving event.

While both the girls and boys teams came up short against Easton, there was no shortage of notable performances. Northampton began the meet with a first-place finish by the 200 medley relay team of Andrea Davidson, Gabriella Oswald, Ava Gower, and Brenna Caley. Gower grabbed a first-place victory in the 200 individual medley event and placed second in the 100 butterfly. Oswald placed first in the 100 freestyle and claimed a second-place finish in the 100 breaststroke event. Northampton’s Ava Keenan finished second in the 100 freestyle. Davidson was first to the wall in the 100 backstroke followed closely by Caley in second place. Davidson placed second in the 500 freestyle event. Oswald, Gower, Caley, and Keenan teamed up for a second-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay and the team of Keenan, Davidson, Sophia Pina, and Hannah Krywonis ended the meet second in the 400 freestyle relay.

For the boys, the 200 medley relay team of Micah Sommons, Aiden Kuntz, Jake Ladd, and Andrew Szeplaki placed second in the opening event. Northampton’s Ryan Franke achieved the only first-place finish of the meet for the boys with a win in the 200 freestyle event. Franke also placed second place in the 100 freestyle. Sommons went on to claim second place in the 100 backstroke event, Kuntz likewise finished second in the 100 breaststroke and Ethan Brobst secured a second-place finish in the 200 individual medley. The relay team of Franke, Brobst, Sommons, and Nick Isaac closed out the meet with a silver in the 400 freestyle relay.

With the regular season behind them, the Northampton swimmers will have one last opportunity to qualify for district championships at the Last Chance Meet hosted by Emmaus on Feb. 18. The diving team is also in the process of preparing for District XI Diving Championships which are also hosted at Emmaus on Feb. 25.