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Sports

Freedom Freshman Takes First Place at Swim Meet

Conzola wins backstroke at Regionals; Patriot boys, Liberty girls finish third overall

Freedom High School freshman Peter Conzola took first place in the 100-yard backstroke at the District 11 swimming championships held Friday and Saturday at the Parkland High School natatorium.

Conzola’s time of 53.14 was the best in the pool, but in all around boys’ team swimming, Emmaus emerged victorious with 518 points. The Parkland High School girls' team took the top slot with an overall score of 555.5 in the AAA competition.

The crowd cheering by color in reds, green, golds, and blues at times produced deafening cheers at several points throughout the meet.

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The Liberty girls' team started Saturday's championship with 38 points (earned in diving events) in fifth place. By the time they swam the 200-yard freestyle they had 47 points and were in fourth place. In the girls' 200-yard individual medley they took third earning a then-total of 83 points to overtake Freedom. They held that place to the end to finish with a final score of 266.

The Liberty boys started Saturday's swimming events in fifth place, also with 41 points, but ended up taking fourth when they overtook Nazareth in the 50-yard freestyle.The Liberty boys' team kept its fourth place to the end, finishing with an overall total of 162.5.

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Family and friends filled the bleachers to watch their swimmers. “We watch our son, and all the other kids and help cheer them on,” said Judy Patterson. She attended the meet with her daughter Caroline to cheer on their son, Carl Patterson, a swimmer from Allen High School.

In overall boys’ competition, Freedom took third place with 248.5 points, followed by Liberty in fourth with 162.5. In fifth place was Easton High School with a score of 131.5, and right behind Easton with an overall boys’ score of 131 was Nazareth High School.

In girls' competition, Liberty took third place with a score of 266, Freedom took fifth place with a score of 151 and Easton earned seventh place with a score of 130.

The staunch rivalry between the Hornets and the Trojans saw the opposite places taken for the second slot with the Lady Hornets taking second place with an overall score of 369 points and the Parkland boys' team earning an overall score of 423.5.

Parkland senior Erica Reifinger broke the old record in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:50.38.

Lady Trojans from Emmaus went on to break the fastest time record in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a new time of 3:28.95.

“This was my first district gold medal, it was a great way to end the season,” said Parkland Senior Alexis Walley, after winning 400-yard freestyle relay. She went on to take first in the 200-yard freestyle relay and third in the 200-yard individual freestyle, as well.

Emmaus' Taylor O'Brien endured through the 500-yard freestyle to win first place with the new fastest time of 4:50.86. Emmaus senior Allie Roberts torpedoed into first place in the 100-yard backstroke breaking the record on her way with a time of 55.95.

“It was really tough at first but all the hard work paid off,” said Emmaus freshman Danielle Thomas of the 2011 swimming season but, “It was great,” she said. Thomas swam against a pool full of upperclassmen to win 200-yard individual medley.

Part of the annual championship are the awards for Lehigh Valley Conference Outstanding Performance. This year, recipients were Romain Decrop of Emmaus and Parkland’s Erica Reifinger. Decrop and Reifinger also went on to receive the Dennis McGinley award, named after the former 38-year director of the championship.

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