PIAA Swimming: Resweber feels fine under 5 in 500 free

LEWISBURG — Frances Resweber was spent when she climbed out of the water.

It was the good kind of complete exhaustion, though, the kind that only comes with an accomplishment like what the Strath Haven sophomore had just done at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium.

Resweber finished second in the B final of the 500 freestyle at the PIAA Class AAA Championships, good for 10th overall. But the clock was the true masterpiece of the performance, with Resweber powering her way under the hallowed five-minute barrier to clock in at 4:58.37, a personal best.

Not bad for someone who 12 days ago entered the District One championships with a seed time of 5:09.

“Even after Districts, (coach) Dina (Dormer) kept telling me I could go under five minutes, and I didn’t know if I could,” Resweber said. “Swimming twice in one day like this is really hard. But I just tried to keep composed. I know I can get in front of girls on my last 100, so I just tried to keep my pace.”

Resweber was able to methodically tick off 50 after 50 around her objective pace, hovering in the high 29s and 30-low.

The only damper was that she was touched out by three hundredths by Parkland’s Erin Jordan, who surged late and just nipped her to the wall after Resweber had paced the field for the first 450 yards. That was but an afterthought to Dormer, jumping up and down on the pool deck, gesticulating far more expressively than the usual hand signals she uses to communicate pace information to Resweber.

Resweber’s time was the fifth-fastest of the final, beating more than half of the A final. Her time was also faster than all but two of the morning prelims swim. She clocked a 5:02.36 to get the middle lane in the B final, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise in allowing her clean water to focus on her race.

It’s been a roller coaster week for Resweber, who finished in the first alternate position in the 200 free Wednesday, 17th overall. She definitively banished thoughts of that Thursday.

“I guess I got all the jitters out Wednesday,” she said. “The B final was actually better for me. I was disappointed that I couldn’t get a medal, but overall I think it was better for my swim.”

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