As a sophomore, Northwestern's Trey Shackleton set the District 11 record in the 500-yard freestyle, but he simply wasn't satisfied. This season, Shackleton shaved nearly three seconds off of last year's time to reset the district record and again capture the gold in the 500 at the District 11 Championships, held last weekend at Parkland High School.

Shackleton also finished second in the boys 200-yard freestyle event.

Northwestern Lehigh doesn't actually have a swimming program, so Shackleton, who swims with a club team, was the only representative of the school at districts. His two finishes netted him a total of 37 points on the day, ranking him ahead of two other schools, who both had more than one swimmer.

Three years ago, Northwestern's Madison Burns entered districts and won gold in the 200-yard IM and the 100-yard breaststroke and went on to not only win gold in both events at states, but set a PIAA record in the 200 IM, which still stands. Burns also went on to collect a scholarship to the University of North Carolina after her achievements.

Shackleton had a good feeling coming into this year's meet that he was going to be able to better his time from last season and also felt he would be able to capture gold. About 100 yards into the race, Shackleton had about a one-body-length lead on his nearest competitor and by the 300 yard mark, he had pushed that out to almost a full pool-length lead. Above his times from last year, Shackleton didn't let up off the gas and went on to beat the record easily, setting the new mark at 4:39.04.

"I knew coming in it was possible to shave time off of last year," he said. "I've been doing well and I definitely had that in my sights."

Shackleton will now head to states where he finished third last season. The top three finishers last season were all sophomores, who all figure to return to the competition this year.

With another full season of swimming ahead of him next year, Shackleton will also be able to defend his new record and is looking forward to the prospect of setting an even better mark next season in the District 11 meet. In fact, he's even taking a more ambitious approach to just how much better he can be in the 500 freestyle.

"I really think that next year, I can do even better," he said. "I'm working all the time to get better and it won't surprise me if I can shave six or seven seconds off of my time next year.

"I'll definitely be shooting for that and working to keep cutting time off."