PIAA Swimming: Walsh’s state memories are about more than medals

LEWISBURG — Three years ago, Claire Walsh was the sensation of the state meet.

The Penncrest freshman marauded through her swims at Bucknell with a level of dominance rookies rarely display, particularly in the sprint events, where veteran savvy and strength reign. In her wake, she left a slew of medals, a pair of Delaware County records and the promise of so much more.

As she departed states for the final time Saturday, however, Walsh wanted just one memento of the weekend.

“It’s been such a life journey. I’ve been so many things in the past four years,” Walsh said. “I just texted my mom (that) the place to me didn’t matter, the time to me didn’t matter tonight. I was just so proud to have finished my high school swimming career and to finish with a smile on my face.”

Walsh’s smile after the 100 freestyle at the PIAA Class 3A Championships did have an accessory: A sixth-place medal, the seventh of her stellar career. Yet even that prolific return of hardware doesn’t quite encapsulate all that Walsh takes away from her high school swimming experience. She understands the pressures at play at the level she ascended to so quickly.

Even in a state like Pennsylvania, with a record board littered with Olympians and a crop of college All-Americans aplenty, there’s a battle against yourself hidden in just about every race. Many of the girls record-holders set their fastest times as freshmen and sophomores, then chased in vain to better their former selves. The unforgiving nature of the watch can render cold judgments; forever boiling down your swimming existence to a set of numbers is a path to burnout and unhappiness.

Walsh understood that early, and her career trajectory made it a mandatory part of her curriculum. That freshman year still stands alone against the watch. She finished second in the 50 free in 23.20 seconds, a Delco record that still stands. Her finals time of 50.76 in the 100 free earned fourth and a year-long stay as the Delco standard.

Since then, Walsh has come close to replicating those times without bettering them in the high school realm. She has taken sixth each of the last three years in the 50 with times clustered within .02 seconds, including a 23.53 in prelims Friday that was identical to her 2018 finals time.

The 51.32 that earned sixth in the 100 free Saturday was slower than the 51.25 she used to take eighth in 2018 but quicker than the 52.13 she turned in as a sophomore. That last swim was the only non-medal swim of her individual states events, capping a challenging season that included an illness that kept her out of the Central League championships and two sprained ankles that cost her eight weeks of training.

No time will ever reflect in four digits that kind of adversity. Walsh’s experiences provide the contours to a journey at the heart of her achievements.

“It’s impossible to compare myself to the swimmer I was freshman year, because I’m a different person than I was freshman year,” Walsh said Friday. “I have a different life than I had freshman year. So I just try and take it day by day and race by race and not compare myself to what I was or what I could’ve been because you’re going to get nowhere if you’re always comparing yourself to an impossible standard.”

It also speaks to how extraordinary Walsh is physically. Though the only freshman among the 2016 finalists, you would’ve been hard-pressed to identify the 6-1 Walsh as the youngster. Her rangy physique and strength are uncommon, even among sprinters, and the uniqueness of her skillset sets her apart.

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Penncrest senior Claire Walsh poses with her sixth-place medal from the 100 freestyle at the PIAA Class 3A Championships Saturday at Bucknell University. The medal is the seventh in the sprinter’s illustrious career.