SUNBURY, Pa. — Kimmy Shannon certainly made a splash at the state swim meet. The Lewisburg Green Dragon won the 200 IM in 2:03.25 and the 500 Free in 4:56.48 – and she's only a freshman.
"To be able to win gold for Lewisburg, it's something that almost leaves me speechless," Shannon said. "I really don't know how to explain it. Almost instant shock at first, but I'm glad I got to have the opportunity to swim at states. I was ecstatic. I couldn't be happier with myself."
That opportunity was not easy. Like states, Bucknell could not host Lewisburg this year. So Shannon spent most of her time swimming at the YMCA in Sunbury.
"Most of the time, I was training here with my club team, the Greater Susquehanna Valley YMCA Dolphins," Shannon explained. "So, this became my home, this pool, and it was rough to start. It was definitely a little bit crowded."
"You can see, we have a humble facility, right, but we have great people surrounding it," Greater Susquehanna Valley Y Dolphins Head Senior Coach Ethan Cooke added. "To be able to swim that fast out of this facility, it's just impressive to have watched her grow this year and again, there's so much more to go. There's more years of this, which is exciting."
Because after winning two state gold medals, the sky is the limit for this freshman phenom.
"There's a little bit of expectation to see me do it again, but I'm excited to see next year and to push myself and to grow in each of the races, it's going to be fun," Shannon said.
"She's done a lot of great things this year," Cooke added. "I think it's getting her as much experience as she can over her high school career so that she's really prepared to keep going for four years after high school because she's going to be a great college swimmer, too."
One day, but that's a journey this freshman will take it one lap at a time.