In one season, Shelton has Lions' hockey and swimming teams moving on up

One way or another, John Shelton's last two winters have been spent around water.

Sometimes it's of the frozen kind, the Cardinal O’Hara senior a defenseman and captain for the hockey team.

Sometimes it's the liquid variety, as an important cog in helping the swim team qualify relays for the PIAA Championships each of the last two seasons.

Playing multiple sports isn't new for Shelton, who also runs track and is a linebacker/running back in the fall. But competing in two sports in the same season is a unique balancing act.

"It takes a lot of planning and a lot of discipline," Shelton said last week. "You have to know the times for everything, all practices, all games, all meets, and you have to know how much time you have in between because you have to balance school in between. Especially with my parents, school comes first, and if school falls, then sports are done."

The hectic scheduling requires communication, and Shelton credits his coaches – Cherie Walters in swimming, Jeff Beck in hockey – for making accommodations when meets or practices fall on the same days. The open dialogue allows Shelton to feel comfortable prioritizing where he's most needed on any given day.

That meant passing up on the last game in O’Hara's hockey regular season, for instance, so he could swim at the Catholic League Championships and District 12 meet, anchoring the 200 medley relay to a District 12 Class 2A record and a states spot.

The two-sport experiment started last year, thanks to the oddity of hockey scheduling. The Lions were facing about a month between games around the holiday break, so Shelton finally gave in to overtures from Walters to join the swim team. He’d swum since a young age, first at Aldan Swim Club in the summers and then at Lansdowne Y, before hockey became the sport he devoted his time to. He played club hockey first with the Delco Phantoms and now with the Philadelphia Little Flyers.

But swimming never went away, and he found a chance to pick it back up in his junior season, helping the Lions make states in both the 200 medley and 200 free relay. Shelton's cross training, with an emphasis on stamina and explosiveness, "has done wonders" for his game on the ice.

On the ice, he takes the responsibility of the "C" on his jersey seriously. Shelton has three goals and 11 assists in 16 games for O’Hara, which opens the Flyers Cup AAA bracket Monday night against Holy Ghost Prep. He plays on the top defensive pairing and marshals the Lions’ power play. That makes it hard for him to feel like he can miss games, especially for a team that doesn't have the deepest roster.

"That's a huge factor in decisions," Shelton said. "On the hockey team, I’m on the top defense pair, I’m a captain. So it does get a little more priority than swimming where, there are relays, but it's mostly individual. Hockey is a much more team-oriented sport, and I feel like I’m letting the team down a lot more if I can't be there for a hockey game."

The team aspect of the relays draws him in. He's not at the level to make states individually, even with O’Hara in the smaller Class 2A field. But relays are all about minimizing weaknesses, and Shelton has provided that extra depth that has proved decisive in the Lions’ efforts to reach states.

"Swimming is an individual sport, but the relays are some of the most fun," he said. "I’m really close with those three other guys on the team, and for us to get that chance to swim up in Bucknell in two weeks, it's awesome."

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