Three Emmaus individuals and four relay teams won events at last weekend’s District 11 Swimming Championships, held Friday and Saturday at Parkland High School.

All three individual event winners were seniors, led by boys Swimmer of the Meet and East Penn Conference Swimmer of the Year Griffin Messenlehner, who picked up four gold medals in his final district meet. Natalie Cheplick and Brady King also took first place in their events, and Emmaus won four of the six relays at the meet.

“I’m very happy with how this meet went,” said Messenlehner. “Getting first in all my events was really exciting and I think all-around the team did really well. I couldn’t ask for a better way to end my high school career.”

Messenlehner helped his relay team win the first event on Friday, teaming up with Brady King, Julian Vlaeminck and Joe Lyons to win the medley relay in 1:35.17. He won the 50-yard freestyle in 20.78 seconds on Friday to cap his first day.

On Saturday, he won the 100 backstroke with a time of 50.56 then received his awards just before swimming the 400 freestyle relay, the meet’s final event, along with teammates King, Roman Herman and Reid Lovett.

Messenlehner entered the pool for the final leg of the race with some ground to make up on Parkland’s Dominic Faenza. The Hornet senior swam a 44.69-second split time for his 100-yard anchor leg, securing his team the victory.

“We all knew we wanted to end the meet strong,” he said. “We were all throwing down. I was the last leg. I saw almost a body length on us and I put everything I had into it.”

“That was impressive,” said Emmaus head coach Tim O’Connor. “What was really impressive as I thought about it, he wins both awards and then we see why. He hits the water as our last swimmer and he does a remarkable swim. Forty-four seconds is really fast.

“Our guys 400 free relay is senior-laden. For them as seniors its always nice to go out and win the relay.”

Cheplick and King are both first-year high school swimmers and friends who have been swimming on club teams for several years.

“High school swimming is fun and people were trying to get me to do it for a long time,” said Cheplick. “I was like ‘I’m ready to have fun. I’m ready to be part of a team.’”

Cheplick won the 500-yard freestyle in 5:22.55, taking the lead over Parkland’s Julianne Zaffiro with about 150 yards to go and winning by over two seconds.

“My coach, Tim O’Connor, told me not to get too ahead of myself in the beginning, ‘you don’t need to win the first 50. You just have to win the race,’” she said.

More importantly Cheplick had fun in her senior season.

“It’s been the best experience in swimming,” she said. “It’s a much different environment than anything I’ve swam in before. Club meets never get this high-energy. People aren’t standing up out of their seats and cheering for you and you can feel the energy.”

King agrees.

“There’s never this many people and it’s never this loud,” he said of club meets.

King won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:43.02 Friday and swam on two winning relay teams during the meet. He also finished second in the 500 freestyle Saturday.

“Being a senior, I wanted to end with a high note,” he said. “Winning all these events with all my teammates, it’s different from being on a club team where you’re by yourself. Being on a team here, you want everyone to succeed.”

The Emmaus girls team won two of three relays over the weekend.

The foursome of Veronica Karbosky, Keilani Silva, Mabry Krause and Sriya Reddy finished the 200 freestyle relay in 1:39.01 to end Friday’s session with a gold medal.

The Hornets finished off the meet with another relay gold with the team of Karbosky, Silva, Krause and Sophia Harmon, who swam the event in 3:36.75.

Emmaus, which took second place to Parkland in both the boys and girls team standings, had several other medal winners at the meet.

Silva, a freshman, finished second in two events. She swam the 200 freestyle in 1:55.31 in the 100 freestyle and 53.20 for second place in both events. Lovett, a sophomore, was second in the individual medley in 1:58.10. He also finished third in the 500 free in 4:44.98. Vlaeminck, a senior, earned a silver medal in the 100-yard butterfly in 51.15.

The girls medley relay team of Harmon, Babs Lyons, Reddy and Liz Mazzetti took third place Friday, while the boys 200 free relay team was third on Friday with the team of Herman, Vlaeminck, Lyons and Lovett.

Harmon picked up a pair of bronze medals with third-place finishes in butterfly (59.59) and breaststroke (1:09.91). Herman was third in 100 free (47.19) and fourth in IM (1:58.74). Karbosky also picked up a bronze medal as she took third place in the 50 free in 24.56.

Medals went to the top four finishers in each event. The Hornets’ Carter Smith (100 butterfly, 52.26), Krause (100 free, 54.53) and Bryce King (100 back, 53.48) all finished fourth in individual events.

While the team is always striving for district titles, the first goal is to improve times and swim as fast as possible, whether it results in first place or last.

“It’s a really tough meet just to compete in,” said O’Connor. “Just to get here, we have 16 [swimmers qualified for districts]. They were celebrating the chance to swim in the meet. Then to get another drop [in time] or improve your place, it really warms my heart.

“I love winning championships. Our kids loving winning championships. But at the end of the day it’s about how hard you go after it and they have nothing to hang their heads about. They competed.”

District 11 Class 3A

Swimming Championship Results

(Includes top 8 plus all Emmaus finishers)

GIRLS

200 medley relay: 1. Parkland (Baylee Kish, Kelsey McPeek, Milla Hahn, Sydney LaBaugh) 1:44.16, 2. Nazareth 1:50.91, 3. Emmaus (Sophia Harmon, Babs Lyons, Sriya Reddy, Liz Mazzetti) 1:53.25, 4. Liberty 1:53.92;

200 freestyle: 1. Sydney LaBaugh (P) 1:52. 70, 2. Keilani Silva (Em) 1:55.31, 3. Victoria Kuteras (PME) 1:58.94, 4. Farrah Hahn (P) 2:00.83, 5. Natlalie Cheplick 2:01.02, 10. Gabriella Antunes (Em) 2:04.56, 14. Regan Coffey (Em) 2:08.85;

200 individual medley: 1. Milla Hahn (P) 2:09.76, 2. Sydney Valvano (Na) 2:15.82, 3. Ella Rafeld (P) 2:18.04, 4. Mazie Fleischaker (P) 2:18.54;

50 freestyle: 1. Anna Kirby (S) 23.65, 2. Kelsey McPeek (P) 24.32, 3. Veronica Karboski (Em) 24.56, 4. Vivian Werner (Na) 25.45, 5. Sriya Reddy (Em) 25.63, 12. Liz Mazzetti (Em) 26.43, 13. Madelyn Roberts (Em) 26.46;

100 butterfly: 1. Milla Hahn (P) 57.68, 2. Kyla Spengler (Na) 58.70, 3. Sophia Harmon (Em) 59.59, 4. Baylee Kish (P) 1:00.28, 8. Babs Lyons (Em) 1:02.16, 9. Sriya Reddy (Em) 1:03.57, 14. Bella Marsh (Em) 1:06.45;

200 freestyle relay: 1. Emmaus (Veronica Karbosky, Keilani Silva, Mabry Krause, Sriya Reddy) 1:39.01, 2. Parkland 1:41.05, 3. Nazareth 1:41.17, 4. Southern Lehigh 1:43.39;

100 freestyle: 1. Anna Kirby (S) 52.25, 2. Keilani Silva (Em) 53.20, 3. Victoria Kuteras (PME) 54.17, 4. Mabry Kruase (Em) 54.53, 5. Veronica Karbosky (Em) 55.33, 14. Liz Mazzetti (Em) 57.86;

500 freestyle: 1. Natalie Cheplick (Em) 5:22.55, 2. Julianne Zaffiro (P) 5:24.61, 3. Kenzi Schultz (P) 5:34.76, 4. Cami Johnson (SL) 5:23.39, 7. Gabriella Antunes (Em) 5:38.60, 11. Bella Marsh (Em) 5:46.86, 13. Reagan Coffey (Em) 5:50.69;

100 backstroke: 1. Sydney LaBaugh (P) 56.27, 2. Kyla Spengler (Na) 58.07, 3. Baylee Kish (P) 58.74, 4. Farrah Hahn (P) 58.83, 5. Mabry Krause (Em) 1:00.51, 13. Kate Brion (Em) 1:08.57;

100 breaststroke: 1. Kelsey McPeek (P) 1:04.25, 2. Gianna Cusumano (SL) 1:08.98, 3. Sophia Harmon (Em) 1:09.91, 4. Leah Onia (L) 1:10.28, 8. Babs Lyons (Em) 1:12.74;

400 freestyle relay: 1. Emmaus (Veronica Karbosky, Keilani Silva, Mabry Krause, Sophia Harmon) 3:36.75, 2. Parkland 3:38.36, 3. Easton 3:51.44, 4. Stroudsburg 3:54.33.

Team Standings (top 10)

1. Parkland 533, 2. Emmaus 382, 3. Southern Lehigh 222, 4. Nazareth 188, 5. Liberty 182, 6. Easton 168, 7. Freedom 138, 8. Stroudsburg 134, 9. Northampton 84, 10. Pocono Mountain East 82.

BOYS

200 medley relay: 1. Emmaus (Brady King, Julian Vlaeminck, Griffin Messenlehner, Joe Lyons) 1:35.17, 2. Parkland 1:35.39, 3. Nazareth 1:35.51, 4. Liberty 1:37.61;

200 freestyle: 1. Brady King (Em) 1:43,.02, 2. Dominic Faenza (P) 1:43.52, 3. Pedro Teran (P) 1:43.76, 4. Michael Toth (P) 1:45.87, 5. Reid Lovett (Em) 1:46.20, 7. Will Reichert (Em) 1:47.13, 8. Bryce King (Em) 1:48.36;

200 individual medley: 1. Jacob Brunetti (Ea) 1:57.49, 2. Graham Lovett (Em) 1:58.10, 3. Ethan Coleman (P) 1:58.45, 4. Roman Herman (Em) 1:58.74, 6. Carson Mosel (Em) 2:01.10, 7. Aaron Kenny (Em) 2:03.26;

50 freestyle: 1. Griffin Messenlehner (Em) 20.78, 2. Patrick Leach (Na) 20.91, 3. Thomas Price (P) 21.36, 4. Jacob Piccini (P) 21.92, 7. Joe Lyons (Em) 22.46, 10. Reese Wunderler (Em) 23.11, 11. Matthew Sirignano (Em) 23.13;

100 butterfly: 1. Thomas Price (P) 50.80, 2. Julian Vlaeminck (Em) 51.15, 3. Ian Barrey (Na) 51.73, 4. Carter Smith (Em) 52.26, 7. Parker Gamler (Em) 55.13, 8. Brennan Smith (Em) 55.35;

200 freestyle relay: 1. Parkland (Jacob Piccini, Eric Friday, Dominic Faenza, Doug Bell) 1:26.88, 2. Nazareth 1:27.06, 3. Emmaus (Roman Herman, Julian Vlaeminck, Joe Lyons, Reid Lovett) 1:27.41, 4. Easton 1:30.41;

100 freestyle: 1. Patrick Leach (Na) 46.82, 2. Jacob Piccini (P) 46.98, 3. Roman Herman (Em) 47.19, 5. Jacob Brunetti (Ea) 47.61, 8. Joe Lyons (Em) 49.63, 12. Matthew Sirignano (Em) 50.29, 14. Nate Peters (Em) 50.89;

500 freestyle: 1. Dominic Faenza (P) 4:38.91, 2. Brady King (Em) 4:41.15, 3. Reid Lovett (Em) 4:44.98, 4. Michael Toth (P) 4:45.42, 5. Will Reichert (Em) 4:49.56, 7. Brennan Smith (Em) 5:00.34;

100 backstroke: 1. Griffin Messenlehner (Em) 50.56, 2. Pedro Teran (P) 51.48, 3. Gabe Krizel (P) 51.87, 4. Bryce King (Em) 53.48, 6. Parker Gamler (Em) 54.11, 9. Carter Smith (Em) 55.13;

100 breaststroke: 1. Adam Barlow (L) 58.26, 2. Anthony Quaranta (Na) 58.26, 3. Connor McGlynn (Na) 59.22, 4. Ethan Coleman (P) 59.94, 5. Carson Mosel (Em) 1:01.07, 6. Graham Lovett (Em) 1:01.15, 7. Julian Vlaeminck (Em) 1:01.22, 11. Aaron Kenny (Em) 1:03.21;

400 freestyle relay: 1. Emmaus (Roman Herman, Reid Lovett, Brady King, Griffin Messenlehner) 3:07.83, 2. Parkland 3:08.54, 3. Easton 3:19.04, 4. Northampton 3:19.29.

Team Standings (top 10)

1. Parkland 55, 2. Emmaus 538, 3. Nazareth 236, 4. Northampton 195, 5. Easton 159, 6. Liberty 130, 7. Stroudsburg 117, 8. Freedom 91, 9. Whitehall 58, 10. East Stroudsburg South 43.

Legend

Emmaus (Em), Easton (Ea), Parkland (P), Pocono Mountain East (PME), Liberty (L), Nazareth (Na), Southern Lehigh (SL), Stroudsburg (S)