Breaking News
Local News

Pooling resources: With U.S. Olympic Trials nearing, Shackley feels community support

By Scott Franco 7 min read

Leah Shackley turns 18 next month, a landmark birthday for a lot of teenagers, but the recent Bedford Area High School graduate is not like a lot of teenagers.

She has dreams just like other girls her age, yes, but this teenager literally has an Olympic-size dream on her to-do list this summer.

On Thursday, June 13, the Blair Regional YMCA will hold a sendoff party for the six-time Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association champion swimmer who leaves for the U.S. Olympic Trials and a shot at the Summer Games in France (July 26 to Aug. 11).

"I cannot wait," Shackley said Friday afternoon after a workout at the Blair Regional YMCA. "I'm so excited."

The trials will take place in Indianapolis from June 15-21 at Lucas Oil Stadium as an Olympic-size swimming pool has been placed on top of the stadium's football field.

"I love to see how they're going to dress up the pool," Shackley said. "It's so pretty. I was there (at the trials) three years ago as a little 14-year old, and it's crazy to imagine myself being there again."

She will compete in the 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke and the 100 butterfly. She also qualified for the 200 fly, but opted out. She must finish in the top two in one of those three races to punch her ticket to Paris.

"I always joke that I would never bet against Leah," Blair Regional Aquatics Director Tom Grassadonia, Shackley's coach, said. "I think everyone knew she was pretty special early on. The good Lord gave her a talent, and she has never wasted it."

Shackley came to the Hollidaysburg YMCA when she was 11 years old after training at the YMCA in Cumberland, Maryland. She began working solely with Grassadonia two years later.

Executive Director Sharon Jones began her time with YMCA in 2018 when Shackley was part of the Y's swim team.

"With each year that passed, she continued to improve her event times, broke records and had her eye on the Olympics," Jones recalls. "It was during the 2019-20 swim season when she qualified for the 2020 Olympic Trials that I fully grasped the depth of her talent, determination and dedication to her sport."

Community effort

With Olympic Trials comes travel, and that was where the local Y was willing to help Shackley and her family (parents, Tom and Jessica and siblings, Eva and Evan). There were trips to Nebraska and Colorado that would need funding.

How much can a YMCA help out? Plenty, when you ask around.

"I first met Leah three years ago when she was swimming in the lane beside me. I had never seen anyone so fast in the water," said Michael

DelGrosso, Chief Sales & Marketing Director of DelGrosso Foods and a YMCA member. "But what stood out just as much was her bubbly, high-energy and positively infectious personality. Since then, I've become a fan and supporter, and when I can't see her compete in person, I'm usually tuning in on a streaming service."

DelGrosso was told of nine high-level meets that Shackley would have to attend across seven states to be able to compete for a spot on the Olympic team.

According to Grassadonia, the BRY swim team joined the effort, along with the Shackleys and the coach himself.

DelGrosso led the fundraising campaign that produced $30,000.

"He (DelGrosso) jumped at the opportunity and has been incredible," said Grassadonia, who will join the Shackleys in Indianapolis. "Last fall, he introduced Leah and myself to the ABCD Corp., providing us the opportunity to speak to the business leaders in our community, and the response was fantastic."

"The incredible corporate support, and of course the many members of the BRY and regional community, has been beyond gracious," Grassadonia said. "I think we had our first check three days after we met at ABCD Corp. We are so very thankful."

'Work ethic, humility'

The support for Shackley crosses generations.

"Everyone who meets Leah is drawn to her rare combination of an amazing work ethic, humility, positive enthusiasm and ready smile," DelGrosso said. "That was a lot of travel and expense, so I essentially took Leah on tour to introduce her to local business leaders to help raise funds. The response was immediate, and we surpassed our goals to the point where we were able to add a trip to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs."

Grassadonia calls the support, both financial and emotional, amazing.

"When you see it, you know that it is a very special relationship, a bond," he said. "Everyone knows Leah, especially the ladies in the four water classes doing their workouts while she is practicing, and the members who lift next to her in the Wellness Center. People stop in the pool just to ask how she is doing."

"Individuals and companies in this community have made a positive impact on Leah's life and her continued success in her swimming journey," Jones said.

Anyone who's heard her speak can hear the humility in her voice when asked about all that is going on as she prepares for Thursday's sendoff.

"The people at the Y have been so incredible," said Shackley, who will attend North Carolina State on a full athletic scholarship this fall. "Especially the swim team and the adult aquatic classes. So many of those ladies are like grandmas to me. They have given me so much support and truly care."

Jones has witnessed those interactions first hand.

"If I were to use one word to describe Leah, it would be genuine," she said. "She is fully engaged with whomever she is speaking with and is truly inquisitive about things that are important to them. We are truly blessed to have Leah as a member of our Y family."

Elite company

Since her high school did not have a swim team, Shackley has always been an independent swimmer, competing at other high school meets to get ready for the high school postseason.

She was also balancing her time on the BRY team as well.

Shackley swims two hours daily Monday through Saturday -- during the school year, it was often early in the morning -- and works in the weight room three days per week.

Her diet focuses on "high-protein intake."

According to SwimSwam, a website that covers and writes about scholastic boys and girls swimming, Shackley is part of the Class of 2024 that has three of the top 14 times in the country this year.

In the 2024 PIAA meet, held at Bucknell University, Shackley swam 50.29 to win the 100 butterfly,

1.64 seconds faster than her state record from last year. In the 100 backstroke, she cut .85 seconds off her state record from 2023 to 50.76.

She completed three-peats in both events. It's the second straight year she's lowered the state record in both. Her winning times were faster than the winners in the Class 3A championships, in the case of the 100 backstroke by more than two seconds.

She is the reigning gold medalist in the World Junior Championships, where she won a gold medal in the 50 butterfly and a silver in the 100 butterfly.

Watching the action

The trials will air on the Peacock Network live and again on NBC on a delayed basis. The USA Network is also involved.

"So when the athlete you are working with flirts with rankings as high as fifth in the nation, especially against the competition we have in the United States, you know she has a chance," Grassadonia said.

When the Olympics are over come August, Shackley

will be a full-time student-

athlete. Her time at the Blair Regional Y will dwindle quite noticeably.

"After the trials, we will transfer her to the N.C. State team and she will be starting classes in Raleigh," Grassadonia said. "So the trials will be really bitter sweet for the both of us. But we have agreed that we are not going to think about that. It has been a dream run, and we will both do our best through the trials. She will move on, and I will go from her coach to a fan."

Starting at /week.