There are times in sports where you finish first and crush the competition. There are times where you finish second yet perform better than you have in your career. Both of these scenarios happened to Donegal senior swimmer Ethan Shonk at the District Three Class 2A swimming championships that took place Friday and Saturday, March 4-5 at Cumberland Valley High School.

In both the 100-yard backstroke and the 200-yard freestyle, Shonk qualified for the PIAA 2A state competition, which will be at Bucknell University the weekend of March 18-19.

Shonk will be heading to the PIAA's with fellow senior Grant Liebold, who finished second in the 100 freestyle and third in the 100 butterfly.

"Juniors Kylie Wilkinson and Sierra Houck also made states," said head coach Isaac Greene pointed out. "They also had their best times."

Shonk claimed the gold medal in the 100 backstroke by distancing himself from the competition in remarkable fashion. He registered a time of 51.56 seconds whereas the second-place swimmer came in at 55.79. Yes, an entire 4.23 seconds faster.

In the 200 free, Shonk did a bit of both scenarios above - crushed the competition as well as finishing second.

"The big story was Ethan Shonk winning the 100 back - an automatic qualifier for states," said Greene. "Though he had his eyes set on first place in the 200 free, he showed maturity by saying he was not upset with second place since he had his best time.

"We're excited to have a number of kids compete at states and represent the school," added Greene.

Shonk came in second with a time of 1:44.38. Again, he had to wait four seconds for the next swimmer to touch the end of the pool as Fleetwood's Alex Kissinger took third place at 1:48.47.

Liebold took second place in the 100 free with a time of 48.63 seconds. He earned third place in the 100 fly with a time of 52.93 seconds.

"Grant also bettered his times and looks to further improve them," Greene said. "The boys are poised to finish their high school careers at Bucknell. Sierra and Kylie look to improve on their times."

Houck had her best time for the 50 free at 24.90 seconds, which was good for fourth place. She took sixth (54.62) in the 100 free.

Wilkinson was fourth in the 200 free with a time of 2:00.73 and her time of 5:31.11 helped her claim seventh in the 500 free.

Emma Myers, another junior, also competed in the 500 free. She finished 10th with a career best time of 5:36.07.

Freshman Haley Liebfried finished 14th in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:08.19. Liebfried and Myers both competed in the 200 individual medley, taking 10th and 12th, respectively, with times of 2:22.54 and 2:22.68.

Greene also spoke about the preparation of these swimmers.

"They worked with me or their club coach to develop a strategy for training and the race," Greene explained. "Their preparation paid off with nearly all swimmers getting personal best times.

"The next challenge will be to ensure those who made states get a good mix of workouts to keep the momentum going," added the coach.

Donegal, being a non-swim school, did not place in the team standings. However, Greene stated, "One PIAA district representative told me, unofficially, that Donegal was by far the highest scoring non-swim school. It is a compliment to our kids to be recognized."

BASKETBALL

The Lancaster-Lebanon League basketball coaches voted on the league all-stars per each section. In Section Four, Donegal's Victoria Burton was named first-team all-star, junior guard Sophia Floyd was named second-team all-star while fellow junior Brianna Zuch made the all-academic all-star team.

Khalil Masden was a first-team all-star selection in the boys' Section Four voting with Dutch Good receiving honorable mention.