Leah Shackley Has Risen to Swimming World Female High School Swimmer of the Year Via Unusual Setting
Elite athletes don’t often come from places like Leah Shackley’s hometown of Bedford, Pennsylvania. A town of some 2,800 people in a county of the same name with a population of 47,000, the facilities needed to nurture top athletes are few and far between in Shackley’s corner of Southwestern Pa.
But Shackley’s promise has led her to excel anyway. Even in a school district with no official swim team – the 2023-24 Bisons roster lists Shackley and a sophomore girl on the roster. Even in a district without a school pool. Even with the requirement to drive an hour each way toward Pittsburgh to swim for Blair Regional YMCA or to voyage two and a half hours to West Virginia for long-course training.
It’s not where you’d expect to find Swimming World’s High School Female Swimmer of the Year. But Shackley nonetheless launched herself to that echelon of excellence with her performances in the 2023-24 school year.
Shackley had a marauding performance at the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) Championships. Competing in the smaller of two divisions, Class 2A, Shackley lowered her state marks in both the 100-yard backstroke and 100 butterfly. In the 100 fly, she slashed more than a second and a half from the time she’d used to win the title as a junior, lowering her state record from 51.93 to 50.29.
The cut in the 100 backstroke was just under a second, from 51.61 in 2023 to 50.76. Her fastest time of the season in backstroke was a 50.43 from the District 6 Championships in late February.
Both times are not only Class 2A records, but they’re faster than the Class 3A records. In the case of the 100 back, her record is more than two seconds quicker in a state that regularly produces high-level Division I swimmers.
Photo Courtesy: Leah Shackley
Shackley made the PIAA meet a priority this season. In the build toward Olympic Trials, the YMCA national champion opted for the March state high school meet instead of Y Nationals as her final short-course meet before transitioning to long-course training. It’s a nod to that meet’s role in her ascent to the national stage, which will take her to North Carolina State in the fall.
“I feel very comfortable here,” Shackley said at the meet at Bucknell University. “In the big scheme of things, it can get a little overwhelming when you’re at all these international meets because you don’t know that many people and you’re around all these big names in swimming. So whenever I come here, it’s so nice to have familiar faces and be here, swim fast and have fun.”
Shackley’s time in the 100 back was the fastest in the country this season. She was second in the 100 fly, .04 behind the 50.25 of Carmel (Ind.) swimmer Alex Shackell, who also owned the top 100 free time. Shackley won the Swimmer of the Year title with the highest power point total, ahead of last year’s winner, Teagan O’Dell of California’s Santa Margarita Catholic, and Shackell, who tied for second.
Shackley built off her high school performance to make the final of 100 backstroke at Olympic Trials, finishing seventh. She was 12th in the 100 fly and 17th in the 200 back, earning a spot at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships. She won gold there in the 100 back, taking down a meet record set in 2018 by Katharine Berkoff by winning in 59.46. She also won gold in the 200 backstroke, where set a meet record of 2:08.19.
Throughout a season of growth, Shackley has focused on enjoying the process, not a surprise given her outgoing, bubbly personality. It’s paid handsome dividends.
“I saw a comment that said happy swimmers are the fastest swimmers, and I think that’s so true,” she said in March. “If you’re loving what you’re doing, you’re happy, you’re going to obviously swim fast because you’re in such a good place mentally.”