LEWISBURG – Danny Berlitz had a fire in his belly Friday when he wanted to avenge a second place finish and a disqualification from a year ago in the 200 IM race at the annual PIAA Swimming Championships on the campus of Bucknell University.

Saturday in 500 the freestyle, the most grueling and demanding event at the championships, that fire was replaced by a knot in Berlitz’s stomach.

Berlitz fell just short of winning a second gold medal when sophomore Luke Mikesell from Clearfield erased a one-body length disadvantage and chased down Berlitz in the closing stretch of the race.

Berlitz had pushed himself to the limit. Yet his best effort came up short, and now it will burn in him for another year to try and come back and avenge this loss.

“I really don’t know what to say,” said the exceptional Marian swimmer. “I mean I had the lead, he just came on strong near the end. He was pushing me, I was pushing myself, but …”

Berlitz was leading for the better part of the 20-lap event right from the dive into the Kimmey Natatorium pool. He held sway over Mikesell through almost 19 laps, but Mikesell just kept his head in the water and inching closer. When Mikesell and Berlitz hit the turn for the final lap, the Clearfield swimmer had nudged just a little further ahead.

“I was watching him most of the way,” explained Berlitz as they swam side-by-side in lanes four and five respectively. “When I went out in front I thought he was either dying (tired) or saving (his energy). It turns out he was saving.”

Even Marian’s coach Tim Dando wasn’t sure of the way Mikesell was approaching this race. Dando pointed to the prelim time where Berlitz had raced nearly five seconds faster (4:34.98-4:39.33).

“You know we looked at the prelim times and I said to Danny “don’t go by that” I just thought he wasn’t showing his hand,” said Dando about Mikesell’s approach and a coaches’ instinct.

In the end, Dando’s hunch was right on.

“I sure didn’t buy into the time that Mikesell had in the prelim, and you can see what he did,” continued Dando about the winning time he posted (4:28.28). “I thought Danny got beat on a couple of the turns. Mikesell seemed a little quicker on the turns. That was the difference.”

Despite the loss, it was Berlitz’s best time of the postseason as he finished in 4:28.63.

“It was a tremendous accomplishment to do what he did,” offered Dando of Berltiz’s gold and silver medals.

“So the battle continues,” said Dando with a laugh knowing full-well that Danny Berlitz will find a way to fuel his fire and make a comeback bid next March.

While Berlitz was being glorified for his accomplishments, Marian standout freshman Maddie Dando got her first dip in the state tournament in the 100-yard backstroke. Dando was 25th out of 32 swimmers in the prelims, touching in 1:00.53, which was almost identical to her District 11 gold medal winning time of 1:00.58.

“I wasn’t in awe being here,” said Maddie, who is the daughter of coach Dando. “I’m only a freshman and I will learn from this. It was a great experience to be here with all those outstanding swimmers. I’m going to learn from this and work harder to come back next year.”

MORE SILVER ... North Schuylkill’s Reggie Crawford, who like Berlitz won gold on Friday (50 freestyle), also took a silver on Saturday (100 freestyle). Also participating in the boys 100 event was Nativity’s Ryan Schreffler, but failed to make the championship round.