Northwestern's Trey Shackleton and Northern Lehigh's Jose Avila have a few things in common they are both coached by Ryan Woodruff, they both train year-round with the Parkland Aquatic Club, and they are both friends.

After the second day of the District 11 AA Swimming Championships at the Parkland High School Natatorium, they can now say that they both broke the five-minute mark in the 500 freestyle race, allowing them to take first and second in the event.Shackleton and Marian sophomore Katie Kurzinsky both bested their respective fields in their individual events to take gold and represent the wealth of area swimmers that attained success in the two-day event on Saturday.Kurzinsky, who also finished second in the 100 freestyle race just moments before, pushed past Schuylkill Haven's Allison Adams and touched the wall a district champion, sending her into exultation."I've been competing against Allison for the past two years, and she has always pushed me to do my best. I knew she was right there with me, and I wanted to win. When I saw the board, that I won, I screamed, I was so happy," Kurzinsky said.By winning the event, both Kurzinsky and Shackleton automatically advance to the PIAA State Swimming Meet at Bucknell University on March 11-14."I'm extremely happy with my performance overall," she said. "I was really nervous going into the events, but thankfully, I had my family, my friends, and my coaches. They were all great and motivated me and told me I could do it. I believed in myself and I did it."Meanwhile, for Shackleton, his better event proved to be a great way to end his scholastic district meet competition, as he bested the remainder of the field in the 500 freestyle by 18 seconds. Coupled with his second place result in the 200 free, the day before, his showing at the meet earned him the respected Dennis McGinley Outstanding Swimmer Award. After winning the 500 free for the third straight year, Shackleton did his cool down laps and posed for a few pictures with the event's second place finisher, Avila. The two area athletes have become friends over the years of training together."I train with Jose at PAC (Parkland Aquatic Club), so it's really nice to have people here that I know," Shackleton said. "While I don't have a team from Northwestern Lehigh, these people are my teammates. So it's nice to have that support all around me here."As a natural perfectionist, Shackleton is already processing things to improve upon for Bucknell in a couple weeks."Before the race, my coach was kind of telling me to not take it easy for the first 50 or 100, but to relax, so that I could have a strong finish to the race. But I really wasn't carrying my momentum through the walls as much as I could have. So that kind of went by the wayside as the race progressed," Shackleton said. "This year, at States, I'm obviously going to try and win it, but whatever my time gets me, I'll be happy with. I'm just going to try and go as fast as I can and hopefully get under 4:30. That's my goal."Avila, a Northern Lehigh junior, was thrilled with his second place finish and time of 4:59.83."I really wanted to go under five minutes and it was my personal best time, so I'm definitely happy," said Avilia. "You always have people to motivate you to go after your goals and you want to be just as fast as them, so it's nice to have Trey there to push me. I'm hoping that the time gets me to states."Avila's second place finish in the 500 free was matched by Tamaqua's Rebecca Kanaskie in the 100 breast stroke, who also took second the previous day in the 200 IM."I've had a bit of a shoulder injury from yesterday and I went into the race today with shoulder spasms," said Kanaskie. "So, I was doing the warm-up and I was kind of getting some pain. But once I got into the water for the race, I felt nothing at all."The adrenaline kicked in, my rhythm was good, I did everything I needed to do, and I'm extremely elated with that time."Marian's Timmy Dando finished third in the 500 freestyle, behind Shackleton and Avila, proving to be the TIMES NEWS area's event, as athletes swept the top three positions. Dando has been battling a rib injury and visiting the chiropractor, yet still had the strength to pull out a third place finish."The pain doesn't affect my stroke as much as it does my breathing," Dando said. "My chiropractor told me about how the pain makes it go from big, deep breaths to short, shallow breaths. I'm still happy with my finish in the 500 and it has been a great experience to just be here and swim with guys like Trey and Jose."Rounding out the noteworthy finishes was another Northern Lehigh representative in Wyatt Delans, who finished in fourth in the 100 breast to nab a medal in the event.DISTRICT 11 AA SWIMMING(at Parkland Natatorium)GIRLSTEAM STANDINGS(Final Results)1. Southern Lehigh (SL) 480.5, 2. Allentown Central Catholic (ACC) 250, 3. Schuylkill Haven (SH) 212, 4. Moravian Academy (Mor) 187, 5. Tamaqua Area (T) 161.5, 6. Blue Mountain (BM) 161, 7. Saucon Valley (SV) 151, 8. Salisbury (S) 97, 9. Mahanoy Area (MA) 81, 10. East Stroudsburg North (ESN) 61.INDIVIDUAL EVENTS(top four; plus other locals)100 Free - 1. Jenna Forrester (SL) 53.55, 2. Katie Kurzinsky (Mar) 54.84, 3. Jill Spirk (BC) 55.47, 4. Zoe Geis (SL) 56.97; 14. Abigail Brickler (T) 1:01.03, 19. Krista Carlin (Palm) 1:04.74, 21. Jillian Bartel (Wea) 1:05.10, 22. Emily Andrews (T) 1:05.40;500 Free - 1. Sydnee Karam (BC) 5:02.65, 2. Maria Holstrom (ACC) 5:21.66, 3. Tori Touzeau (SL) 5:35.45, 4. Mary Zimmerman (SH) 5:39.89;100 Back - 1. Katie Kurzinsky (Mar) 59.65, 2. Allison Adams (SH) 1:02.31, 3. Nicole O'Neill (ACC) 1:02.59, 4. Kaylee Davis (Mor) 1:04.69; 18. Olivia Stanek (T) 1:12.28;100 Breast - 1. Caroline Madigan (SV) 1:07.14, 2. Rebecca Kanaskie (T) 1:07.69, 3. Raechel Rodriguez (SL) 1:08.31, 4. Elizabeth Fahrney (ACC) 1:11.29; 5. Angelina Krupko (Mar) 1:12.69;400 Free Relay - 1. Southern Lehigh (Samantha Talecki, Zoe Geis, Santina Schiaretta, Jenna Forrester) 3:42.87, 2. Schuylkill Haven 3:49.03, 3. Allentown Central Catholic 3:50.23, 4. Moravian Academy 3:52.58; 9. Tamaqua (Olivia Stanek, Emily Andrews, Jazmin Mena, Allison Pedersen) 4:41.30.BOYSTEAM STANDINGS(Final Results)1. Allentown Central Catholic (ACC) 312, 2. Blue Mountain (BM) 299, 3. Pottsville Area (Pot) 263, 4. Salisbury (S) 231, 5. Saucon Valley (SV) 189.5, 6. Schuylkill Haven (SH) 144, 7. Moravian Academy (Mor) 133, 8. Mahanoy Area (MA) 119, 9. Tamaqua Area (T) 84.INDIVIDUAL EVENTS(top four; plus other locals)100 Free - 1. Mahlon Reihman (S) 47.87, 2. Gabe Castano (ACC) 48.36, 3. Josh Marx (Pot) 50.75, 4. Stephen Johnson (BM) 50.79; 19. Jeff Letterhouse (T) 58.88;500 Free - 1. Trey Shackleton (NW) 4:41.25, 2. Jose Avila (NL) 4:59.83, 3. Timmy Dando (Mar) 5:05.08, 4. Michael Smerlick (Pot) 5:06.09; 8. Benjamin Turrano (T) 5:25.06, 19. Bryan Ramirez (T) 6:10.94;100 Back - 1. Mark Boran (BM) 54.98, 2. Joseph Bozzi (PX) 57.16, 3. Jarod LaSelva (BC) 57.22, 4. Liam Mansell (MA) 59.12; 10. Keith Cullen (Wea) 1:04.45, 15. Jeff Letterhouse (T) 1:07.66;100 Breast - 1. Nathanael Marino (BM) 1:01.53, 2. Charlie Li (ACC) 1:04.45, 3. Joey McLaughlin (BM) 1:04.54, 4. Wyatt Delans (NL) 1:05.03; 5. Mac Allen (Palm) 1:07.02, 8. Jacob Sirkot (Wea) 1:07.35;400 Free Relay - 1. Salisbury (Danny Bonge, Ben Wiener, Gavin Carey, Mahlon Reihman) 3:25.60, 2. Pottsville 3:28.35, 3. Allentown Central Catholic 3:31.47, 4. Schuylkill Haven 3:33.63; 8. Tamaqua (Benjamin Turrano, Jeff Letterhouse, Bryan Ramirez, Andrew Castagna) 4:14.15.