For the third straight year, the Salisbury boys swimming team took first place at the District 11 Swimming Championships held at Parkland High School, while the girls team finished in eighth. Overall, Salisbury collected 11 medals, including four gold, three silver, three bronze and one pewter.

Besides the boys championship, the other big news for Salisbury was senior Jon Anderson capturing the Dennis A. McGinley Award as the best boys swimmer at the event. Anderson won gold and silver in individual events and was part of relay teams that captured gold in the 400- and 200-yard freestyle events.

It marked the second year in a row that the McGinley Award went to a member of Salisbury's team after Eric Tatum captured the honor at last year's meet.

"Eric [Tatum] got it last year and I'm really happy that I could get it this year," said Anderson of the award, which is based on a points system. "Trey Shackleton from Northwestern was telling me how the whole power point system works and he told me that he thought I was going to get it, but I didn't know. I'm really happy that I did."

Anderson battled Southern Lehigh's Josh Kreider in the 100-yard freestyle and wound up breaking the previous district record time, but unfortunately, Kreider also broke the record and finished just ahead of Anderson.

"It was really close at the end, but I got out-touched by a little bit, but Josh [Kreider of Southern Lehigh] is a really close friend of mine, so if I was going to get beat, I'm glad it was him," said Anderson. "I'm glad that I got to race and have such a good time in a close race."

First-year coach Jason Mohring was glad to see Anderson get the award after all of the hard work that he put in during the season.

"It is quite a day for him," said Mohring. "It was close between him and Josh [Kreider] from Southern Lehigh and they're two really good friends, so it would have been rewarding for either of them to receive the award. John has worked so hard this entire year and he's very deserving of it. He's a very modest kid and a hard worker."

Anderson and Mohring both believed that the key for Salisbury's title was how the freshmen stepped up in districts and helped to lead them to the team title.

"It's been very important," Mohring said. "I'm a new coach, but obviously, I knew from last year that they had a great year and I knew that this year they lost some guys, but this freshman class has three boys that really just stepped up and really made a statement. Hopefully, they'll continue, because unfortunately, we're going to be losing some key players this year."

One of those freshmen, Mahlon Reihman, took second in the 500-yard freestyle, an event dominated by Shackleton, who broke the district record he set last year. Reihman respects Shackleton, but also sees himself chasing after that record before the end of his swimming career.

"It's not really discouraging," said Reihman. "You know he's going to be tough to beat, but you still try to go after him. I'm a couple years younger than him, so I think somewhere down the road, I may be able to break his records and I'll always go hard against him."

Reihman finished the day with a silver and bronze medal in individual events.

Another freshman, AJ Oliver took a bronze in the 100-yard breaststroke and was part of the 200-yard medley relay team that captured a silver. For his part, Oliver believes that the freshman class is just doing what it needs to do to help the team.

"I think we came in as a very strong class and we're really just showing that we belong and that we're able to play our part on the team and help us win," explained Oliver.

Next up is the PIAA Championships at Bucknell University March 14-15. Gold medal winners are guaranteed a spot in the meet, with other swimmers being qualified based on their times compared to other swimmers from across Pennsylvania.