The first day of the PIAA Swimming and Diving Championships produced mixed results for the two Times News area athletes participating in the Class AA event.

Northwestern's Trey Shackleton continued what has been a stellar career with a strong performance in the 200-yard freestyle.Shackleton, who was seeded third in the event, took fifth in the morning preliminary race with a time of 1:43.61, faster than his seed time of 1:43.75.The senior returned to Bucknell University's Kinney Natatorium for the championship final where he produced a time of 1:42.86, which earned him a fourth place finish in a race won by Salisbury's Mahlon Reihman in 1:40.92."Anytime you can come out here and get a medal, you're happy," Shackleton's Parkland Aquatic Club coach Ryan Woodruff said.Shackleton's shot at a gold was undone by a slow start in his final, something he simply wasn't able to recover from."I think I could have done better," said Shackleton, who finished sixth in the 200 free last year. "I wanted a faster time, so I'm happy with that."But my start wasn't that great. My first 50 (yards) were slower than everyone else's. From the second 50 on it was pretty much even, but I was so far behind that it was hard to catch up."Shackleton won't have to wait long for another shot at gold. The senior is also seeded third in today's 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:41.25."That's by far my better event," he said. "But I'm not really going for a specific place. I just want to swim a fast time. I want to try to go under 4:30, and if I can do that the place will take care of itself."Today I learned that I just have to go out and swim my race. I want to put the blinders on tomorrow and not worry about what my competition is doing."And if that happens, expect Shackleton to once again be on the podium."I think he's very well prepared for the 500," Woodruff said. "Our preparation has been geared more towards that than the 200. I can't wait to see what he does."Tamaqua's Rebecca Kanaskie didn't fare quite as well in the girls' competition, finishing 19th in her morning 200 IM preliminary race with a time of 2:17.73, which was not enough to advance to the finals.Tamaqua swim coach Al Bostdorff noted that the earlier start time might have thrown the sophomore, who was seeded 15th in the event, off her game."And I take full responsibility for that," he said. "I thought we had her stretched out properly, we just didn't get the cardio right."But it was the same situation for everyone. The door was open for us if we had just held our own. It is what it is."While Bostdorff took much of the blame, Kanaskie acknowledged that she didn't have her best race."I might have gone out a little bit slower than I should have during the butterfly," she said of her first leg. "I had my best splits ever in the backstroke, but just couldn't find my rhythm during the breaststroke, then it was pretty much all adrenaline during the freestyle."Kanaskie will have a shot at redemption today when she competes in the 100-breaststroke."She's mentally tough," Bostdorff said. "She'll be tested, but I think she'll show what she's able to do."Despite the setback, Kanaskie is looking forward to getting back in the pool."I want to go out and do the best that I can," she said. "I know I'm capable of a lot, and ... I want to show it."Shackleton and Kanaskie will be joined be three other Times News area athletes that will be competing today.Northern Lehigh's Jose Avila and Marian's Timmy Dando will join Shackleton in the 500 freestyle. In the girls' competition, Marian's Katie Kurzinsky will be participating in the 100-backstroke.