On December 28, the Northampton High School varsity swimming and diving teams welcomed Easton High School to the NAMS Pool for a home meet.

This meet presented a different competition than the team has seen this season. Beginning at 10 a.m. on a weekday morning, this was one of the longest meets of the season so far, with the normal 22 swimming events and the infrequent addition of two full diving squads totaling just over an hour of diving competition. In the end, Northampton bought home the points, particularly in relay events, overall diving and select individual swims. The boys squad added yet another victory to their undefeated season with a Northampton win of 116-70, but the girls team lost to Easton 106-80.

While the girls started strong with an opening win in Event 1, the 200 medley relay by Northampton’s Brenna Caley, Gabriella Oswald, Gigi Esteban, and Olivia Kuhns, the rest of the girls points would come from second and third place finishes.

Meanwhile, the boys squad capitalized on the strength of their relay teams, grabbing first-place victories in all three relay events. The relay team of Josian Hippert, Ryan Franke, Ethan Brobst, and Logan Saylor started the string of wins with a first-place finish in the 200 medley relay. The 200 freestyle relay team of Andrew Szeplaki, Steven Carrasco, Nate Scheirer, and Nick Isaacs claimed the men’s second relay win of the meet, and the team of Hippert, Brobst, Saylor, and Franke ended the meet with a win in the 400 freestyle relay.

Additionally, Franke was first to the wall by over 5 seconds in the 200 individual medley event, and Hippert posted dual individual victories, coming in first in the 50 and 100 freestyle events.

The event of the meet, however, may have been the race to the wall between Northampton’s Isaac and Brobst in the boys 500 freestyle. After a grueling 20-lap race, the pair took the final turn and sprinted to the finish, with Isaac just edging out his teammate by a fraction of a second; Isaac posted a winning 5:34.13 time with Brobst immediately following with 5:34.77.

Diving saw more Northampton wins, with Isabella Kish posting a decisive first-place victory in the girls 1 meter event. The boys secured additional points with the triple threat of Andrew Szeplaki, Alex Szeplaki, and Samuel Hayes, posting a 1-2-3 finish.

Northampton returns to their pool this week with a home meet against Parkland on Wednesday, January 3, then travels to Whitehall next Tuesday, January 9, for a Cement Belt Challenge face-off with this local rival.