Milton Area High School had 
an exceptional winter sports season with two athletes making it to state competition. Freshmen Kyleigh Ficks and Nolan Scheller made States for wrestling and swimming, respectively.
Milton Athletic Director Mr. Rod Harris explained the process to make States. “You have your league… If you do well enough, you qualify for what’s called District Championships. If you do well enough at Districts and finish at the top places, you go onto what’s called Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) State championship,” he explained.
According to Mr. Harris, Kyleigh Ficks is the first girl wrestler from Milton to make it to States since the team started three years ago.
“It’s a pretty big deal. It will go down in Milton history, not only because she’s the first to make it to States and place eighth, but also because she is a freshman,” Mr. Harris added. “Kyleigh plays multiple sports. She works very hard on every sport that she does and the results show.”
Nolan qualified for the PIAA State Championship in two swimming events– the 50 meter free style and the 100 meter free style. He placed 12th and 15th in both events. He was also, District Champion for District 4, said Mr. Harris.
“Nolan is an exceptional swimmer. He‘s been doing it a long time. He swims at very, very high levels of competition which has paid off in the long run. Because he’s clearly making it as a freshman if he can qualify for two events at States,” said Mr. Harris.
According to Nolan, he does both track and swimming through the school and he participates in swimming through the YMCA in his free time.
“Making it to states freshman year was a huge accomplishment for me, and I got there by working hard every day in the pool and making sure I didn’t miss practices while also doing well in school,” he said. “I was overjoyed for the opportunity to go swim with some of the best swimmers in the state.”
Nolan said his mother and father helped him to make States. His father was the coach of the club team and helped fix the little things to reach his full potential. He added that his mother helped with nutrition by making meals and using her physical therapist abilities to make sure he didn’t get injured.
“I made a lot of new friends there from many different teams that gave me advice and cheered me on in my races, everyone there was very nice and coaches would come up to me and give me tips on how to get better, the overall the experience was amazing and I can’t wait to go again next year,” he explained.
Nolan said this is the first time he made it to States for the high school at Bucknell, but in the past he made it all the way to Nationals with the YMCA team in Greensboro, N.C., and took seventh place in the Freshman 50 freestyle.
“Swimming in high level meets every year has benefited me by making me more competitive and building confidence while also meeting better swimmers than me to give me tips and show me how to improve in races and practices,” he added.
“My mindset all year was to beat myself in the pool. I mean by dropping time in specific events like the 50 and 100 freestyles, and trying to get better rather than worrying about beating others led to me beating everyone at Districts and getting 15th and 12th at States…” he said “At the beginning of the season, I didn’t think I would be able to do and wasn’t supposed to.”
Nolan said his goals are to keep dropping time and making his school proud by placing at States and while also being a great classmate and teammate to his peers.
“The Milton School District is in full support of the athletes. From the level of coaches to myself, Mr. Rantz, Mr. Bergey, Mr. Campbell and Dr. Bickhart are huge champions of athletics,” said Mr. Harris.
