Liberty Set For Weekend Meet At UNC Asheville

Courtesy: Liberty Athletics

Liberty will head to Asheville, N.C., this weekend to take on UNC Asheville in a two-day dual meet, Friday and Saturday.

On Friday, diving will begin at the Asheville Jewish Community Center at 3 p.m., while swimming will start at 5:30 p.m. at the Justice Center Pool. Saturday’s swimming session will get underway at 11 a.m.

Both Friday and Saturday’s swimming events will air live on ESPN+.

Team Notes

• Liberty is 1-0 in dual-meet competition so far, defeating James Madison 162-138 on Oct. Oct. 13 in Harrisonburg, Va. 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.
• On Oct. 17, Caroline Stamps was tabbed as ASUN Diver of the Week. Mary Herndon was named ASUN Diver of the Week and Kamryn Cannings was tabbed as ASUN Swimmer of the Week on Oct. 3. Cannings is the third Liberty athlete all-time to be named conference swimmer of the week following her first collegiate meet.
• The Lady Flames hold the top time in the ASUN in the 500 free (Shelby Kahn – 5:04.79), 100 back (Abbie Shaw – 55.66), 200 back (Malia Francis – 2:02.89), 100 fly (Kamryn Cannings – 54.76), 200 fly (Kamryn Cannings – 2:01.43) and 400 IM (Grace Isaacs – 4:27.29).
• 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 125-37 dual-meet record, being named CCSA Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year five times (2012, 2014, 2019, 2022, 2023).
• Last year at the CCSA Championships, the Lady Flames registered 22 podium finishes and five event victories, to go along with six NCAA B cuts, three NCAA Zone Qualifying scores and one program record.
• 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.

Student-Athlete Notes

• 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 sliver 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).

Matchup Highlights

• Liberty is 6-1 all-time in dual-meet action against UNC Asheville. The Bulldogs defeated the Lady Flames 190-163 on Jan. 22, 2022 in Lynchburg in the most recent meeting. Liberty is 3-0 all-time against UNC Asheville in meets held at Justice Center Pool, defeating the Bulldogs 162-127 on Oct. 23, 2021 in the Lady Flames’ last visit to Asheville.
• Last year, UNC Asheville went a perfect 9-0 in dual meets before finishing fifth at the 2023 CCSA Swimming & Diving Championships. Delaney Carlton, who has since graduated, was named CCSA Women’s Swimmer of the Year after winning the CCSA 50 freestyle tile and competing in the 2023 NCAA Championships. An additional graduate, Norah Segurola, was the 2023 CCSA Women’s Swimming Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
• The Bulldogs hold a 1-1 dual-meet record so far this season, winning 157-105 at Campbell on Oct. 6 before falling 205-95 at East Carolina the next day.
• Current Bulldogs Anna Marcotti (200 free – 1:48.99), Sammy Kershner (100 fly – 55.22), Caitlin Hefner (100 free – 10:09.67; 1650 free – 16:47.40), Riley Edmundson (200 fly – 2:01.01; 200 IM – 2:03.58; 400 IM – 4:22.85), Beatrice Cocconcelli (100 IM – 58.60), Jade Canady (One-meter diving – 243.83; three-meter diving – 241.65) and Kindal Culpepper (platform diving – 179.65) hold current UNC Asheville program records.

Up Next
Liberty will host the fifth annual TYR ’85 Invite, Nov. 17-19 at Liberty Natatorium.