OREFIELD Northwestern junior Trey Shackleton, Tamaqua senior Joann Butkus and Lady Raider freshman Rebecca Kanaskie all brought home individual silver medals while the Tamaqua girls relay team matched the same feat in the 200 freestyle.

The accolades for those TIMES NEWS area athletes highlighted the Friday session of the two-day District 11 Class AA Swimming Championships at Parkland Area High School.The second day begins this morning at 10 a.m. and will feature many more local swimmers, as they continue to represent against the rest of the district's elite pool athletes.The Tigers' Shackleton started the meet with a battle against Southern Lehigh senior Josh Kreider, who edged him at the line by less than three tenths of a second for first place. Shackleton was seeded second in the event to Kreider, but felt he had the ability to overtake him at this meet.Shackleton's coach Ryan Woodruff commended his prodigy on his effort, despite the lack of a first place finish."I think he swam really well today," Woodruff said. "That was his best time in this event by about a second and we're right where we want to be training-wise. He's a little bit disappointed to lose because he's a champ and he wants to win every time he's in the pool."Despite the loss, Woodruff knows Shackleton will utilize this as motivation for the remainder of the meet."I think it will give him a little bit of anger and a little bit of fire heading into the 500 freestyle, and also into the state meet in two weeks."The first place finisher in each event automatically qualifies for the PIAA championships. But Shackleton's swift swim in the 200 should get him into the 'pool' of at-large qualifiers.Both Kreider and Shackleton down-sized the district record in the event set by Shackleton a year ago enabling them both to most likely get into the PIAA meet.Rebecca Kanaskie followed with her individual silver medal in the 200 IM, dropping the race to Southern Lehigh junior, Raechel Rodriguez, by 1.4 seconds. As a freshman, Kanaskie entered the race with reasonably high expectations, despite her lack of experience in the 'big meet' atmosphere."It's been a crazy ride this season," said Kanaskie. "I've been preparing for this meet all season and I had the mindset that I could do this!"In the lane next to Rodriguez, Kanaskie had her sights on the leader and utilized it during the race."I knew I had to hold my own and I would see her at the flip turn, or I would see her feet as we approached the wall. I'm really happy with the finish. I feel like I'm floating on a cloud right now."The freshman set a school record in the event and will return to action this morning in two more races.Northern Lehigh had a respectable finish in the same event, as junior Scarlet Ojeda finished in fourth place.Next up was Joann Butkus of Tamaqua, as the senior thrived in the shortest race of the day, the 50 freestyle. Being a senior, Butkus used that experience in the big meets to her advantage."This year, I went in with a lot of confidence," she said. "I have a lot of experience with bigger meets, so I kind of treated this as one of those. I came in knowing that I prepared all that I could and I went out and did my thing."Butkus set another Tamaqua record in her best performance in the race in her life.Rounding out the day was the Lady Raider 200 freestyle relay team consisting of Butkus and Kanaskie, along with senior Miranda Amey and junior Danielle DeCindio. The quartet set yet another standard for Tamaqua Area High School in the event as all four girls stepped up.Looking back on the entire day, Blue Raider head coach Ashley Stanek smiled, "It's so nice to have almost our entire team swim their best times today and meet their individual goals. It was nice to see all their hard work come to fruition."DISTRICT 11 CLASS AASWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPSParkland High School Natatorium(Top 3 plus all area swimmers)LEGENDAllentown Central Catholic (ACC), Bethlehem Catholic (BC), Blue Mountain (BM), Mahanoy Area (MA), Marian Catholic (Mar), Moravian Academy (MA), Northern Lehigh (NL), Northwestern (NW), Notre Dame East Stroudsburg (NDES), Palisades (Pali), Palmerton (Palm), Salisbury (Sal), Saucon Valley (SV), Schuylkill Haven (SH), Southern Lehigh (SL), Tamaqua (Tam), Weatherly (Wea).GIRLS RESULTS200 Medley Relay - 1. Southern Lehigh (Rhyan Rodriguez, Raechel Rodriguez, Makena Glemser, Zoe Geis) 1:50.04, 2. Moravian Academy (Devon Korhammer, Sydney Posh, Kyra Manson, Abigail Thomson) 1:55.92, 3. Saucon Valley (Alexa Korinchak, Caroline Madigan, Emma Smiley, Jill Spirk) 1:57.03; 6. Tamaqua (Makayla Boyle, Carly Trovinger, Abby Brickler, Amber Gulick);200 Free - 1. Sydnee Karam (BC) 1:52.07*, 2. Colleen Daday (ACC) 1:53.18, 3. Abigail Thomson (MA) 1:53.58; 8. Miranda Amey (Tam), 23. Nichelle Pucklavage (Tam);200 IM - 1. Ra. Rodriguez (SL) 2:15.04, 2. Rebecca Kanaskie (Tam) 2:16.47, 3. Geis (SL) 2:22.11; 4. Scarlet Ojeda (NL), 8. Trovinger (Tam);50 Free - 1. Jenna Forrester (SL) 24.31, 2. Joann Butkus (Tam) 24.48, 3. Allison Adams (SH) 25.20; 6. Danielle DeCindio (Tam), 8. Katie Kurzinsky (Mar), 22. Brickler (Tam);100 Fly - 1. Rh. Rodriguez (SL) 59.18, 2. Glemser (SL) 59.27, 3. Maddie Bartush (BM) 1:01.05; 7. Ojeda (NL), 8. DeCindio (Tam), 11. Angelina Krupko (Mar)200 Free Relay - 1. Southern Lehigh (Amann, Geis, Santina Schiaretta, Forrester) 1:40.81, 2. Tamaqua (Amey, DeCindio, Kanaskie, Butkus) 1:42.35, 3. Schuylkill Haven (Elizabeth Bayliff, Taylor Felty, Mary Zimmerman, Allison Adams) 1:42.78.BOYS RESULTS200 Medley Relay - 1. Blue Mountain (Mark Boran, Nathanael Marino, Stephen Johnson, Joey McLaughlin) 1:43.65, 2. Salisbury (Ryan Andrews, Ian Carey, Tyler Lesko, AJ Oliver) 1:44.08, 3. Southern Lehigh (Chris Schell, Drew Schell, Mitchell Stayer, Alex Amann) 1:44.61; 8. Tamaqua (Ethan Eberts, Patrick McMullen, Ryan Alicandri, Jake Wenzel);200 Free - 1. Josh Kreider (SL) 1:42.26*, 2. Trey Shackleton (NW) 1:42.50, 3. Mahlon Reihman (Sal) 1:46.64; 6. Timmy Dando (Mar), 8. Jose Avila (NL), 12. Matt Stanek (Tam), 15. Jake Wenzel (Tam);200 IM - 1. Tim Costantini (Sal) 2:04.30, 2. Mark Boran (BM) 2:05.59, 3. C. Schell (SL) 2:08.25; 9. Jacob Sirkot (Wea), 14. McMullen (Tam), 20. Alicandri (Tam);1. Jon Anderson (Sal) 20.93*, 2. Daniel Weeks (MA) 21.65, 3. Marino (BM) 22.26; 10. Eberts (Tam), 16. Ben Turrano (Tam);100 Fly - 1. Jarod LaSelva (BC) 53.84, 2. Stayer (SL) 54.49, 3. Lesko (Sal) 55.62; 5. Turrano (Tam), 12. Keith Cullen (Wea), 15. Alicandri (Tam),200 Free Relay - 1. Salisbury (Anderson, Costantini, Lesko, Reihman) 1:27.36*, 2. Southern Lehigh (Trevor Decastro, Stayer, Gavin Gunkle, Kreider) 1:28.29*, 3. Blue Mountain (McLaughlin, Johnson, Boran, Marino) 1:32.39; 7. Tamaqua (Turrano, Stanek, Eberts, Jake Kropp).* District 11 record