Lewisburg’s Emma Hopkinson has stood at the top of the podium in the District 4 swimming championships before. She did so last year in the 100 fly. So, when she was seeded in the same event this year, the senior Green Dragon was excited for the challenge of winning a repeat district title and defending her crown.

She did just that and took a little extra time relishing the win at the top of the podium as friends and teammates took photos with her repeat gold medal.

“I think it’s nice to defend your title. Everyone likes to hear it ‘district champ times two,’ it does give a little bit of pressure coming in for a race,” Hopkinson said. “Knowing that you have that previous win on your shoulders but it feels surreal and I hope that everyone gets to experience it.”

For Hopkinson, she got to cap her senior season with a repeat in the 100 fly.

The Green Dragon swam a time of 1:00.59 as she beat out Danville standout Izzy Marks (1:04.11) and Bloomsburg standout Anna Yancoskie (1:05.34) who took second and third, respectively.

“It’s awesome. I did it last year and I went in to this meet knowing that I had a good chance of getting first again and there’s a saying I like and it’s ‘control what you can control.’ So going into my race I was just focused on myself,” Hopkinson said. “I was focused on executing my start, my under waters, especially my turns. They tend to be a weaker point for me in my race, and I did and it wasn’t a personal best for me, but we got states and I’m looking forward to tapering down and see what I can do.”

Hopkinson was one of a trio of Green Dragons to claim district gold on Wednesday. She was joined by Morgan and Colin Shannon, two siblings who won gold in the same event in the 200 free.

“This year has definitely been a very good one for Lewisburg. I think it’s pretty cool with a sister and brother getting up there on the podium both winning the 200 free. It’s honestly such a great environment this year,” Hopkinson said. “Before the meet we’re doing our cheer, we’re stretching, we’re singing, just getting in the moment and cheering each other on. It’s honestly just one big family, which I love this year.”

Morgan is just a freshman and swam a solid 200 free event. The Green Dragon had a sub-two-minute time of 1:59.78, the only swimmer in the event to go below two minutes to win gold. She beat Danville junior Cleo Hummel (2:01.61) who took silver and Danville’s Zoe Czech (2:06.41) who took third. 

“I was definitely nervous the past few days because it’s my first event. But my sister (six-time state champion and two-time runner-up Kimmy Shannon), she talked to me she’s like you have to go in there confident and trust your training and know what you’re doing. I think I did that in the race and I’m really proud of what I did.”

Having an older sister like Kimmy, who is an eight-time state medalists, definitely helps with motivation.

“My sister’s been training me an helping me through my whole life. … I try to do as best she tells me. She tells me drills, she tells me this. She’s one of my biggest fans,” Morgan said. “She’s on Facetime today watching during the meet. She gave me a pep talk before. She wishes she could be here but she’s working hard at Pitt. I love her and it’s just really special.”

It’s no surprise Morgan and Colin claimed district gold on Wednesday given how it runs in the family. 

“Swimming is a huge part of our family. We talk about it all the time,” Colin said. “She had her ACC meet, we were watching that all last week, it’s just great.”

Colin won district gold in the 20 free just two heats after his sister did. Colin swam a 1:49.67 and beat out Muncy senior Logan Diehl 91:53.34) and Bloomsburg freshman Bobby Nenstiel (1:55.43).

“That first 100 definitely pushed me a lot, I knew I’d have a good back half, just needed to stay with them on the front half,” Colin said. “Pressure that first half and I knew my game plan, stuck to it the whole race.”

And Colin noted he had confidence entering Wednesday’s competition.

“I had a lot of confidence going in. I knew the main goal coming in was going sub-1:50, because I’ve been 1:50 for a month now or so, it’s been a barrier,” Colin said. “To go under that felt really good. my confidence was pretty high coming in.”

Lewisburg’s only other medalist on Wednesday was Claire Graver. The freshman swam a time of 2:20.60 to take silver and was behind only Bloomsburg’s Lucy Diehl (2:14.83), who won two individual gold medals and took home tow relay titles as well for the Panthers, who are second in the team race (154) behind Danville (182).

Graver was part of Lewisburg’s 200 medley relay team with Jillian Muchler, Hopkinson and Shannon as they took second in 1:53.71, losing by just a second to Bloomsburg’s Diehl, Anna Yancoskie, Jordyn Maloney and Samantha Fagan (1:52.84). But Diehl noted how Lewisburg’s foursome were strong and pushed her and her teammates to swim their best.

“Our seeded time was only one second faster than them,” Diehl said. “So we had the confidence we were going to win, but it was a little bit of a gamble. So having them right next to us was definitely good for us.”