Leah Shackley Picks Up Fourth Title to Finish Y Nationals

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Photo Courtesy: NCAA Media

Leah Shackley Picks Up Fourth Title to Finish Y Nationals

Leah Shackley of Blair Regional YMCA picked up her fourth title of the week by winning the girls 200 butterfly on the final night of YMCA Short Course Nationals.

Shackley went 1:54.63 to win the event by nearly two seconds. She put a scare into the championship and national record, held since 2015 by York’s Courtney Harnish (1:54.37).

Shackley, 16, set meet records in the 200 backstroke and 100 fly on the first night before adding the 100 back title on Wednesday.

Emily Thompson of Greater Somerset County was second in 1:56.42, with Boyertown’s Sydney Gring third just two-tenths back, the only two swimmers to break 2minutes.

Three records fell on the final night of competition. Brendan Whitfield of Lynchburg added a second freestyle record of the week, winning the 100 free in 42.67. That clipped four tenths off Jack Alexy’s record from 2019.

Roman Jones of Fanwood-Scotch Plains was second, followed by Daniel Diehl and Rob Alexy.

Angie Coe followed by winning the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.22. That edged under the meet record set in 2016 by Meghan Small by .02 seconds for the Champaign swimmer. Tori Brostowitz was second, with Emily Constable also getting under 1:02.

The night ended with Greater Somerset County setting the meet record in the boys 400 freestyle relay. Garrett Gould, Rob Alexy, Riqui Iturbe Cosano and Kenneth Barnicle went 2:59.70 to down the time set by Piedmont YMCA last year. Schroeder was second and Ridley Area, the 200 free winner, finished third.

It capped a sweep of the team titles by Greater Somerset County. The boys finished with 657 points at the Greensboro Aquatic Center, getting past the 574 of Schroeder and the 442 from Piedmont. The top three were the same in the girls competition, Greater Somerset scoring 617 to Schroeder’s 540 and Piedmont’s 420.

The night started with the miles. M.E. Lyons’ Ava Sutphin won the girls race, with a time of 16:34.74 that breezed away from the field by nearly 15 seconds. York’s McKenna Potteiger finished second. The boys race was similarly lopsided, Schroeder’s Isaac Fleig (15:13.97) out front by more 21 seconds.

St. Cloud’s Micah Davis won the boys 200 fly with a time of 1:46.38, a second and a half up on Charlie Rennard.

Alexa Fulton won an entertaining girls 100 free with a time of 48.98 after the Upper Main Line swimmer was second in the morning. At night, she edged Wyckoff’s Katie Lawrence, who went 49.38. The top seed in the morning, Morgan Thomas of Piedmont, went 49.65 for third, with Cadence Vincent also under 50 seconds at 49.80.

Ethan Schwab completed the boys breast double, with a time of 54.40 seconds. The Birmingham swimmer edged Jackson’s Luke Vickers (54.75). Ian Fournier of Kennebec was third in 55.15. (The third fastest time of the night came from the B final from Aaron Lee of Greater Monmouth at 55.01.)

Schroeder won the girls really in 3:21.81, the foursome of Anne Dickinson, Lucy Art, Alana Berlin and Brostowitz. Wykoff was second with Fulton anchoring UMLY to third.

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