Liberty vs East Carolina (Women)
- Saturday, January 7, 2023
- Greenville, N.C.
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
- Team Score: Liberty 156, ECU 144
Courtesy: Liberty Athletics
The Liberty swimming & diving team opened the New Year with a 156-144 win over East Carolina, Saturday at Minges Natatorium.
With the win, Liberty evens its season record at 2-2, while ECU falls to 4-3 on the season.
Liberty Event Winners
• 200 Medley Relay – 1:44.41 (Abbie Shaw – 26.21, Heather Gardner – 29.40, Chloe Harris – 25.54, Eva Suggs – 23.26)
• Sr. Eva Suggs – 200 freestyle (1:53.14)
• Jr. Abbie Shaw – 100 backstroke (55.05); 200 backstroke (2:02.02)
• So. Sydney Stricklin – 50 freestyle (24.41); 100 freestyle (52.82)
• So. Grace Isaacs – 200 IM (2:06.08)
• 400 Freestyle Relay – 3:31.50 (Sydney Stricklin – 53.06; Eva Suggs – 52.00; Abbie Shaw – 53.34; Kaycee Cannings – 53.10)
Notable
• Liberty won six individual events and both relays, while ECU earned eight individual-event victories. The Lady Flames outscored the Pirates 24-10 in relays, giving themselves just enough cushion for the 12-point win.
• Liberty’s Abbie Shaw (100 back, 200 back) and Sydney Stricklin (50 free, 100 free) both earned two wins. Meanwhile, Polina Rukosuev (500 free, 1000 free), Caitlin Reynera (100 breaststroke, 200 breaststroke), Sara Kalawska (100 butterfly, 200 butterfly) and Flanary Patterson (one-meter diving, three-meter diving) all won two events each.
• The Lady Flames posted 1-2 finishes in the 200 free (Eva Suggs, Shelby Kahn) and 100 free (Sydney Stricklin, Eva Suggs). Liberty’s Chloe Harris picked up second-place finishes in the 100 fly and 200 fly.
• Stricklin swept the 50 and 100 free in the same meet for the first time in her career. Meanwhile, Shaw has earned victory in both the 100 and 200 backstroke three at the same meet three times this season.
Historically Speaking
• Liberty is 2-0 all-time against East Carolina in swimming & diving, defeating the Pirates 339-73 in a tri meet that also included Penn State, Oct. 29-30, 2021 at Liberty Natatorium.
• Liberty’s Grace Gooding finished third in one-meter diving, with an NCAA Zone Qualifying score of 266.78. Gooding is the fifth Lady Flame all-time to post a Zone qualifying score on three-meter.
• Gooding’s 266.78 on one-meter ranks fifth all-time in program history in the event. Meanwhile, Meagan Tuohy’s 253.88 is ranked sixth on Liberty’s all-time top performers list in one-meter diving.
• In three-meter diving, Tuohy’s score of 244.50 ranks eighth in program history.
• Liberty junior Rachel Strickland began her collegiate swimming career at East Carolina before transferring to Liberty following her freshman season of 2019-20.
Up Next
The Lady Flames will host VMI next Friday, Jan. 13 at 5 p.m. at Liberty Natatorium.
Courtesy: ECU Athletics
GREENVILLE, N.C. – Returning to action for the first time since November of 2022, the East Carolina women’s swimming and diving team played host to Liberty inside Minges Natatorium where it claimed six swimming and a pair of diving events in a 156-144 loss to the Flames.
“I was very pleased with the team today,” ECU Head Coach Matt Jabs said. “We are coming off a long break from racing and a lot of hard training. We dove and swam very well, against a very strong Liberty squad. They are a championship level program for a reason and we hung right in with them for the entire meet. I felt like we are another step closer to where we ultimately want to be as a program. Excited about the next few meets, as we get closer to the conference championship.
“Thank you to all our fans for the support today, it was great. Even with school out of session we had a strong crowd, and our girls really appreciate that.”
Senior Caitlin Reynera earned a pair of wins in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.56) and 200 breaststroke (2:17.88) posting dual meet personal records for the season. She also swam on the 200-medley relay (1:45.14) and 400 freestyle relay (3:33.30) helping both relays to a second-place finish.
Fellow senior Polina Rukosuev posted wins in both the 500 free (5:03.68) and 1000 free (10:21.70), while also leading off for the 400 free relay team with freshman Emilee Hamblin, Reynera and sophomore Laura Kellberg. Freshman Sara Kalawska took top honors by sweeping the 100 fly (56.85) and 200 fly (2:04.43) and swam the third leg of the 200-medley relay.
Junior Flanary Patterson claimed first in the 1-meter (277.65) and 3-meter (265.95) dives, while senior Anna Otto took second in the 1-meter (269.85) and third in the 3-meter (253.13). Both Patterson and Otto also qualified for the NCAA Zones with their 1-meter performances on the afternoon.
“I am so excited for both Flanary and Anna making their NCAA Zone score, ECU Diving Coach Ryan McIntire added. “The divers have been in a really positive place lately and the work and mental preparation is starting to really pay off.”
The Pirates will return to Minges Natatorium on Saturday, Jan. 14 for Senior Day when it hosts Old Dominion and William & Mary in a Tri-Meet. Recognition for the five-member senior class in Meghan French, Otto, Randi Palandro Reynera and Rukosuev is slated to begin around 12:40 p.m. (EST).
