Parkland’s Brad Kunz finished ahead of 11 other divers in the 3A classification to take gold at the District 11 Diving championships, which were held Saturday at Emmaus High School.

Kunz finished 1.55 points ahead of Freedom High School’s Cody Smith, who finished second. Both divers guaranteed themselves spots at the PIAA Diving championships which will be held in mid-March at Bucknell University.

Kunz had an up-and-down start to the event. After finding himself in second place after two dives, he fell to third for a couple of rounds only to move into the top spot after nailing a 1 ½ back somersault pike on his fifth dive.

The stay at the top was short-lived as he was surpassed in round six by teammate Harry Epstein and Northampton’s Alex Szeplaki to fall back to third place.

“It was really close, and I knew it could come down to just a dive or two because other guys were doing really well,” said Kunz. “I was staying close to the top three and just stayed confident.”

Going into the ninth round, Kunz was still in third place but had fallen 10.70 points off the lead. In the ninth round, Kunz again catapulted himself to the top spot with a score of 42.90 on an inward 1 ½ somersault tuck.

Smith kept pressure on Kunz through the final rounds but was unable to gain an advantage on Kunz, who finished with a final score of 370.10 to Smith’s 368.55. Szeplaki finished third with a score of 353.90 and his brother, Andrew Szeplaki came in fourth with a score of 346.80. The win gives Kunz his first trip to states.

“It feels great. I am really excited about it and really looking forward to competing,” said Kunz. “I think it’s going to be great. I’m sure there will be some nerves, but I’m looking forward to it.”

Epstein (337.50) finished fifth, ahead of his brother Charlie Epstein (323.80). Parkland’s fourth diver, Sam Clampittiello finished in 12th with a score of 246.95.

In the girls’ competition, Parkland’s Johanna Cook came in third with a score of 334.95, just ahead of teammate Sam Schultz, who finished with a total of 334.05 points. Early on, Schultz was in second place before falling out of the top three after round five. In round nine, Schultz hit on a back somersault, 1 ½ twist combination to push herself back into the number-two spot where she stayed through the 10th round before falling back into fourth place.

Cook moved into the top three for the first time in the meet in the fifth round when she scored a 33.00 on a forward 1 ½ somersault, one twist dive. She remained in the top three through eight dives before temporarily falling in the standings only to fight back with strong dives in the final two rounds to take third place.

The boys’ PIAA Diving championships will be held at Bucknell University on March 13th with the girls competing on March 14th.