OREFIELD - Ashley Stanek is going to have to find a ladder.
The Tamaqua coach has some major work ahead of her fixing the Blue Raiders' team record board in the school's pool.
The Blue Raiders broke four school records on the opening day of competition Friday at the District 11 Class AA Swimming Championships, collecting three silver medals at Parkland High School.
Freshman Rebecca Kanaskie took second in the 200 IM in 2:16.47, Joann Butkus was second in the 50 freestyle in 24.48, and the two combined with Miranda Amey and Danielle DeCindio to capture silver in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:42.35.
All three times were school records. Ben Turrano grabbed the fourth record with a fifth-place finish in 57.02 in the boys' 100 butterfly.
After six events, the Blue Raiders girls are second in the team race behind Southern Lehigh. Action continues at 10 a.m. today with races in the 100 freestyle, 500 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and 400 freestyle relay.
"Every single person on our team has put in so much hard work," Butkus said. "It was great to see that culminate today. It's a great, great feeling."
Kanaskie was first, hanging with Southern Lehigh's Raechel Rodriguez for most of the race before settling for silver.
After receiving her medal, Kanaskie was like a kid after opening presents at Christmas, almost unable to control her happiness.
"It's incredible. There's no words to describe it. It's like floating on a cloud," said Kanaskie in a rapid voice. "It's hasn't hit me yet. It's just amazing."
Kanaskie got off to a great start with a 30.01 split in the breaststroke and a 34.95 split in the backstroke. A unique turn after the backstroke helped her stay among the leaders.
"It's something not a lot of people can do," she explained. "When you touch the wall, a flip turn is a somersault forward ... this is a somersault backward. It's kind of hard to get the hang of, but it's definitely helped me over the years."
Kanaskie said her goal was to stay with Rodriguez, whose seed time was four seconds faster than Kanaskie's.
"There was a four-second gap on the psych sheets," Kanaskie said. "I wanted to keep up with her. In my mind, I knew the record was 2:18. I thought if I could go 2:18, I would be able to keep up with her.
"When you're in the water, you don't know how fast you're going. I stayed with her. In the corner of my eye, she was there."
Butkus, a senior, is looking to qualify for states for the fourth straight year. Her finish in the 50 freestyle, a lifetime best time, probably accomplished that goal.
Butkus was neck-and-neck with Southern Lehigh's Jenna Forrester the entire race, with Forrester touching first in 24.31.
"In the 50, I was really confident in myself. I wasn't focusing on what she was going to do, but focusing more on what I should do and what my training prepared me to do," Butkus said. "That race, I swam really strongly. She just got me at the end.
"I couldn't be happier with how I swam. That's a lifetime best for me, by a lot."
Schuylkill Haven's Allison Adams took third in the 50 freestyle in 25.20, then anchored the Hurricanes' 200 freestyle relay team that included Elizabeth Bayliff, Taylor Felty and Mary Zimmerman to a third-place finish in 1:42.78.
Blue Mountain senior Maddie Bartush also captured a pair of medals, taking third in the 100 butterfly in a career-best 1:01.05, then helping the Eagles' 200 medley relay team of JoJo Jacobson, Erica Donohue, Bartush and Rachel Juritsch place fourth in 1:59.74.
"I really wasn't expecting that time. It was awesome to see that," Adams said. "I was like 'Wow, I'm back down to where I was when I made states the first year.'
"In the relay, we wanted to stay even with most of the teams and gain a little bit. We wanted to maintain that the whole race and hope that Mary or I could get us the lead."