Heading into the PIAA Swimming and Diving Championships, Northwestern Lehigh's Trey Shackleton wasn't necessarily sure of his high school swimming future beyond this year.

Shackleton had personal goals he had sought to accomplish at last weekend's Class AA state swimming meet in both of his individual events.

And despite earning two top-six finishes, Shackleton still has some more he wants to accomplish. He finished third in the 500-yard freestyle and sixth in the 200-yard freestyle over the two-day meet at Bucknell University's Kinney Natatorium

"I wasn't exactly sure if I was going to come back, but I think after this year definitely [I will]," Shackleton said. "I figured if I were to win, and I were to get my goal times in both of the events, then I think I would've maybe just focused on club swimming."

While Shackelton earned a personal best time of 4:33.93 in the 500-yard freestyle, he had his eyes set on swimming even a bit faster. He found himself in second place for much of the event, but the final 100-150 yards turned out to be the deciding factor in his bronze finish.

West Allegheny's Jarod Kehl finished first with a time of 4:28.80, and Chartiers Valley's Drew Damich took second at 4:33.20.

"Right around the 400- [or] 350-mark, right around there, I noticed Jarod Kehl in first place starting to slip away," Shackleton said. "At the end, I didn't see lane two catching up on me, so I started slowing down. I thought I had second locked up, but I didn't.

"It definitely wasn't my best time by as much as I had hoped. You can't really argue with that. I still have chances to go faster. I wanted to go under 4:30, but I didn't quite get there. I think I went out a little too fast to get to that mark. But I'll have more opportunities in the future to lower my time."

He swam the 200 freestyle in 1:42.68.

Mars Area took home first place as a team with 153 points, followed up by Trinity (134 points) and Salisbury (126 points).

Nicole Sagl, a junior at Central Catholic High School and a resident of the Northwestern School District, thought her back and reverse optional dives in last year's meet weren't up to par.

A year later, those dives helped propel Sagl into a third-place finish (415.20 points) in the girls' one-meter diving after placing sixth as a sophomore.

"My back and reverse-optional [dives] were the ones that I was really concerned about," Sagl said. "From past years, I didn't really do as well on them, and I learned that they were the dives that really made the meet. I went out today and made all of them. I was really happy."

Heading into the meet, Sagl wanted to put together a consistent showing and aimed at securing a top-three finish. She was able to do just that on Saturday afternoon, finishing with a bronze medal around her neck.

"My goal was to go out there and be consistent and hit all of my dives," Sagl said. "I think I did that."

Sagl finished just 12.25 points behind the first-place finisher, Sydney Szopo of Upper Moreland. Szopo and second-place finisher, McKenzie Stelter of Mohawk, are both divers that she has looked up to over her career. The two are both also seniors.

"It was just good knowing that I was within pretty good distance the whole meet," Sagl said. "It makes me happy because they are both seniors, and they're both divers that I looked up to in past years"

Villa Maria Academy took first place amongst AA girls teams with 220 points. Nazareth Academy (131 points) and Southern Lehigh (130 points) rounded out the top three.