Busy Week Awaits Liberty Swimming & Diving
1/10/2024 9:27:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
The Liberty swimming & diving team will compete in three meets this weekend.
Liberty will send its swimmers to North Carolina for dual meets at Gardner-Webb (Thursday at 5 p.m.) and Campbell (Saturday at 11 a.m.). Meanwhile, Liberty's divers will host ECU on Friday and Saturday at Liberty Natatorium.
Friday's diving competition will begin at 3:30 p.m. and include three-meter and platform, while one-meter diving will be contested on Saturday at approximately 9:30 a.m.
Liberty's ASUN Award Winners this Season
So. Mary Herndon – Diver of the Week (Oct. 3, Nov. 21)
Fr. Kamryn Cannings – Swimmer of the Week (Oct. 3, Nov. 21)
Fr. Caroline Stamps – Diver of the Week (Oct. 17)
Sr. Maddie Freece – Diver of the Week (Oct. 31)
Sr. Abbie Shaw – Swimmer of the Week (Oct. 31)
Team Notes
The Lady Flames will next compete at VMI next Saturday at 11 a.m., competing in the VMI Aquatic Center in Lexington, Va., for the first time.
Liberty will send its swimmers to North Carolina for dual meets at Gardner-Webb (Thursday at 5 p.m.) and Campbell (Saturday at 11 a.m.). Meanwhile, Liberty's divers will host ECU on Friday and Saturday at Liberty Natatorium.
Friday's diving competition will begin at 3:30 p.m. and include three-meter and platform, while one-meter diving will be contested on Saturday at approximately 9:30 a.m.
Liberty's ASUN Award Winners this Season
So. Mary Herndon – Diver of the Week (Oct. 3, Nov. 21)
Fr. Kamryn Cannings – Swimmer of the Week (Oct. 3, Nov. 21)
Fr. Caroline Stamps – Diver of the Week (Oct. 17)
Sr. Maddie Freece – Diver of the Week (Oct. 31)
Sr. Abbie Shaw – Swimmer of the Week (Oct. 31)
Team Notes
- In its last meet, Liberty finished second in the TYR '85 Invite. Abbie Shaw (100 backstroke, 200 backstroke) and Kamryn Cannings (200 freestyle, 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly) both earned NCAA B cut times that weekend, while Cannings broke both Liberty and ASUN record with her 1:45.67 200 freestyle. Liberty's individual-event winners included Mary Herndon (one-meter diving), Heather Gardner (100 breaststroke), Kamryn Cannings (100 fly, 200 fly) and Abbie Shaw (100 back, 200 back).
- The Liberty Natatorium served as the host site for the ISCA Open Nov. 29 through Dec. 2. A total of six Lady Flames competed, with Kamryn Cannings (100 fly) and Malia Francis (200 back) earning event victories.
- Liberty is 1-1 in dual-meet competition so far, defeating James Madison 162-138 on Oct. Oct. 13 while falling at UNC Asheville on Oct. 27-28. At JMU, Freshman Kamryn Cannings won the 100 free, 100 fly and 200 fly, becoming the first Lady Flame since Jessica Schellenboom on Jan. 21 against Campbell to win three individual events on the same day. Shelby Kahn earned victory in both the 200 free and 500 free, while sophomores Eden Troxell (1000 free) and Malia Francis (200 back) both earned their first collegiate victory in a dual meet.
- The Lady Flames hold the top time in the ASUN in the 200 freestyle (Kamryn Cannings – 1:45.67), 100 back (Abbie Shaw – 52.77), 200 back (Abbie Shaw – 1:54.80), 100 fly (Kamryn Cannings – 52.51), 200 fly (Kamryn Cannings – 1:58.32), 400 IM (Grace Isaacs – 4:23.56) and 400 medley relay.
- Liberty has had several divers earn NCAA Zone Qualifying standards this season, in Maddie Freece (one-meter), Mary Herndon (one-meter, three-meter), Chloe LaCount (three-meter), Caroline Stamps (one-meter) and Meagan Tuohy (one-meter, three-meter).
- The Lady Flames join the Atlantic Sun Conference this season, as the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association dissolved as a swimming conference after sponsoring swimming & diving ever since 2007-08. Liberty won six total CCSA tiles, including each of the last five in a row. The seven teams in ASUN Swimming & Diving are Liberty, Bellarmine, FGCU, Gardner-Webb, North Florida, Queens and UNC Asheville.
- In a meet where three different teams held leads, Liberty pulled away to win the 2023 CCSA Women's Swimming & Diving Championship. The Lady Flames scored 1,441.5 points, defeating second-place James Madison by 102.5 points.
- 14th-year Head Coach Jake Shellenberger has led the Lady Flames from the program's inception. He has posted a 125-38 dual-meet record, being named CCSA Women's Swimming Coach of the Year five times (2012, 2014, 2019, 2022, 2023).
- Andrew Helmich led the Lady Flames' divers to much success during the 2022-23 season. Four Lady Flames (Maddie Freece, Grace Gooding, Mary Herndon, Meagan Tuohy) qualified for the NCAA Division I Zone Diving Championships.
- Four Lady Flames received CSCAA Individual Scholar All-America honors last season, in Heather Gardner (second team), Abbie Shaw (second team), Eva Suggs (second team) and Meagan Tuohy (second team).
- Junior Heather Gardner was named to the 2023 VaSID All-State University Division Women's Swimming & Diving second team.
- A total of nine current Lady Flames have posted CCSA podium finishes in their career, led by five from both Maddie Freece and Abbie Shaw. Genna Joyce (3), Sydney Stricklin (3), Abby Strohmeier (3), Heather Gardner (2), Grace Isaacs (2), Shelby Kahn (2) and Isabelle Gomez (1) have all podiumed as well.
- Senior Abbie Shaw has won both the 100 and 200 backstroke at each of the last two CCSA Championships. She added a third-place finish in the 100 fly at the 2023 CCSA meet. Shaw enters the season as the program record holder in the 50 backstroke (24.34), ranking second in the 200 back (1:55.13), third in 100 back (52.92) and fourth in 100 fly.
- Senior Maddie Freece was named CCSA Women's Diver of the Year as both a freshman and sophomore. Freece was named the 2022 Co-Most Outstanding Diver of the CCSA Championship Meet. She has claimed three conference individual titles and five CCSA podium finishes. She is the program record holder in one-meter diving (320.75).
- Junior Sydney Stricklin was named Most Outstanding Freshman of the 2022 CCSA Championships. She won the 100 free at the 2022 conference meet, while also placing second in the 100 fly. This February, she captured third place in the 100 back at the CCSA Championships. Stricklin enters the season ranked third in program history in 100 free (49.48) and fifth in 200 free (1:47.66).
- Sophomore Mary Herndon is ranked second in program history in three-meter springboard (309.75) after a standout freshman campaign.
- Junior Grace Isaacs won the CCSA title in the 400 IM as a freshman before claiming second in the event last season. She is ranked third in program history in the 400 IM (4:17.31).
- Sophomore Isabelle Gomez earned a silver medal in the 1650 freestyle at the 2023 CCSA Championships, ranking second in program history (16:44.17) in the event.
- Senior Heather Gardner was named to the 2023 VaSID All-State second team after a breakout season. She finished third in both the 100 (1:01.03) and 200 (2:12.94) breaststroke, swimming NCAA B cut times in both events. She is ranked second on the program's all-time Top 10 in the 100 breaststroke and fourth in the 200 breaststroke.
- Senior Genna Joyce placed second in the CCSA 200 breaststroke in NCAA B cut 2:12.66 this February while finishing third in the 400 IM for the second year in a row. She is ranked second in program history in the 200 breaststroke.
- Freshman Kamryn Cannings enters as one of the top-rated freshmen in the country. She placed third in the 2023 Canadian World Trials in the 100-meter butterfly (58.67) and 50-meter butterfly (26.73).
- ECU's diving contingent features Frida Zuniga Guzman, who finished in the top eight in three events at the 2023 AAC Swimming & Diving Championships, including fourth in three-meter. She holds ECU's program record (229.25) on platform. Guzman (one-meter, three-meter), Jecza Lopez (one-meter), Flanary Patterson (one-meter, three-meter) and Olivia Templeton (one-meter) all earned NCAA Zone Qualifying standards at a meet against Georgia Southern last Saturday.
- The Lady Flames are 42-5 all-time in dual meets contested in North Carolina. Liberty had won 41 straight dual meets inside the Tar Heel State prior to its setback at UNC Asheville Oct. 27-28, 2023.
- Gardner-Webb is 3-6 so far this season in dual meets, most recently falling in a home meet to UNC Asheville last Saturday.
- Liberty holds a 5-1 all-time record against Gardner-Webb, winning the last five meetings in a row. The Lady Flames defeated the Runnin' Bulldogs 290-56 on Oct. 26-27, 2019 in Lynchburg in the last meeting between the two teams. Liberty is 2-0 all-time at Gardner-Webb's Bost Pool, winning in 2011-12 and 2017-18 seasons.
- Campbell is 2-2 in dual-meet action this season, with wins over Old Dominion and Gardner-Webb and losses to UNC Asheville and ECU. The Fighting Camels feature program record holders Meredith Ashburn (50 free – 23.04; 100 free – 50.21; 50 fly – 24.88), Angelica Ragazzoni (50 back – 25.63; 200 back – 2:00.11), and Izza Gaskey (50 breaststroke – 28.66; 100 breaststroke – 1:02.76; 200 breaststroke – 2:18.41).
The Lady Flames will next compete at VMI next Saturday at 11 a.m., competing in the VMI Aquatic Center in Lexington, Va., for the first time.
Players Mentioned
Free, Fly
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Back, Fly, IM
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Diving
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Sprint Free, Breast
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Freestyle
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Diving
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Diving
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Fly, IM
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Breast, IM
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Freestyle
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Diving
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Breast, IM
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Free, Back
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Diving
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Free, Back, Fly
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Free
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Back, Free
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Freestyle
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Diving
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