Courtesy: Liberty Athletics
LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Liberty swimming & diving team will host former CCSA foe VMI on Friday at 5 p.m. at Liberty Natatorium, the Lady Flames’ first regular-season home dual meet of the season.
Liberty’s CCSA Award Winners this Season
- Jr. Maddie Freece – CCSA Women’s Diver of the Week (Oct. 11, Jan. 11)
- Jr. Chloe Harris – CCSA Women’s Swimmer of the Week (Nov. 1)
- Jr. Abbie Shaw – CCSA Women’s Swimmer of the Week (Jan. 10)
Team Notes
- Liberty evened its record at 2-2 on the season with a 156-144 win at East Carolina last weekend. The Lady Flames received swept the relays and received two individual-event wins from both Sydney Stricklin (50 free, 100 free) and Abbie Shaw (100 back, 200 back). It was the third time this season that Shaw has swept both backstroke events in the same meet, while it was Stricklin’s first time sweeping both the 50 and 100 free in her young career. Grace Gooding scored a team season-best 266.78 on one-meter at ECU, becoming the fifth diver in program history to earn an NCAA Zone Qualifying score.
- On Oct. 1, Liberty defeated Campbell 141-116 at a season-opening dual meet in Buies Creek, N.C. The Lady Flames fell to eight-time defending Conference USA champion FIU Oct. 28-29 in Miami, 234-214. The Lady Flames opened a meet at No. 19 Arkansas with wins in the 200 medley relay and 500 freestyle, but fell 177-122, Nov. 4.
- The Lady Flames earned a second place finish at the TYR ’85 Invite. The same weekend, Liberty’s divers competed at the WVU Invite, highlighted by Maddie Freece’s fifth-place finish in one-meter diving. Liberty won all five relays at the TYR ’85 Invite, while Grace Isaacs (400 IM, 200 fly) and Abbie Shaw (100 back, 100 free) won two individual events each.
- Hosting for the third time, Liberty claimed its fourth CCSA Championship title in a row and fifth in program history in 2022. The Lady Flames won with 1,830.5 points, defeating second-place
- 13th-year Head Coach Jake Shellenberger has led the Lady Flames from the program’s inception. He has posted a 122-37 dual-meet record, being named CCSA Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year four times (2012, 2014, 2019, 2022). His teams have gone 64-15 all-time against CCSA competition.
- Last year at the CCSA Championships, the Lady Flames registered 26 podium finishes and nine event victories, to go along with four NCAA B cuts, four NCAA Zone Qualifying scores and one program record.
- Andrew Helmich led the Lady Flames’ divers to much success during the 2021-22 season, being named CCSA Women’s Diving Coach of the Year. Sophomore Maddie Freece was named CCSA Women’s Diver of the Year. Freece and Lauren Chennault both earned podium finishes on both boards at the 2022 CCSA Championships.
- Three Lady Flames received CSCAA Individual Scholar All-America honors last season, in Maddie Freece (honorable mention), Abbie Shaw (honorable mention) and Sydney Stricklin (honorable mention).
- Liberty placed three athletes on the 2022 VaSID All-State University Division Women’s Swimming & Diving team. Maddie Freece became Liberty’s first-ever first team All-State performer, while Lauren Chennault and Jessica Schellenboom were both named to the second team.
- A total of 10 current Lady Flames have posted CCSA podium finishes in their career, led by seven from Eva Suggs. Jessica Schellenboom and Chloe Harris have posted five podium finishes each. Maddie Freece (4), Olivia Robinson (3), Abby Strohmeier (3), Abbie Shaw (2), Sydney Stricklin (2), Grace Isaacs (1) and Genna Joyce (1), have all podiumed as well.
Student-Athlete Notes
- Liberty holds the top time in the CCSA in the 50 back (Abbie Shaw – 25.19), 100 back (Abbie Shaw – 52.94), 100 IM (Chloe Harris – 57.96) and 400 medley relay (3:39.24) this year.
- Junior Maddie Freece was named CCSA Women’s Diver of the Year as both a freshman and sophomore. She has been named CCSA Diver of the Week twice this season, and has improved her one-meter scores in every meet this season. Freece was named the 2022 Co-Most Outstanding Diver of the CCSA Championship Meet, winning one-meter diving with a program-record score of 320.75 while finishing third in three-meter, scoring 305.90. The sophomore went on to compete at the NCAA Zone A Diving Championships, finishing 17th on three-meter and 25th on one-meter.
- Junior Chloe Harris holds the top time in the CCSA so far this season in the 100 IM (57.96), third in 100 fly (55.25) and fourth in 200 fly (2:03.01). She has totaled five podium finishes in her career after placing top three in all three events last year. She earned her first career CCSA individual-event victory last year, claiming the 200 butterfly. Harris finished second in the 400 IM and third in the 200 IM at the 2022 CCSA Championships.
- Junior Abbie Shaw, in her first year after transferring from Kentucky, won both the 100 (53.93) and 200 (1:55.13) backstroke at the 2022 CCSA Championships. That came after Liberty’s Payton Keiner swept both backstroke events at the conference meet each of the previous three seasons. She led off the 200 medley relay in an NCAA B cut 52.94 at the TYR ’85 Invite, just the fifth CCSA women’s swimmer to break 53 seconds in the 100 backstroke.
- Senior Olivia Robinson, the 2019 VaSID State Rookie Diver of the Year, has posted three CCSA podium finishes in her career, including third place on three-meter in 2020. She holds Liberty’s record for platform diving (229.58), a discipline where she placed 15that the NCAA Zone Championships in both 2019 and 2020. Robinson returns for her fifth year.
- Senior Eva Suggs, the 2020 Most Outstanding Female Newcomer of the CCSA Meet, posted three podium finishes as a freshman and two each of the last two years. She has won three straight CCSA 200 freestyle titles, leading a 1-2-3 Liberty podium sweep all three times. Suggs currently ranks third in program history in the 200 freestyle (1:47.82), and this season, she is third in the CCSA in the 200 free (1:49.70).
- Sophomore Sydney Stricklin holds the third best time in the CCSA this year in both the 100 free (50.27) and 100 back (54.36). Stricklin was the fifth Lady Flame in the last six years to be named Most Outstanding Freshman of the CCSA Championships. She came from behind to upset reigning CCSA champion Tori Czarnecka in the 100 free last year, winning in lifetime-best, NCAA B cut time of 49.48. Stricklin also finished second in the CCSA 100 fly in 54.49.
- Sophomore Grace Isaacs won the CCSA title in the 400 IM as a freshman in 2022. She is currently ranked third in program history in the 400 IM (4:17.31). Isaacs has the second fastest 400 IM (4:22.18) in the CCSA this season.
- Freshman Grace Shaw has won the 1000 freestyle in all three of Liberty’s dual meets so far this season, winning individual events on the same day as her sister, Abbie Shaw. Grace Shaw’s 10:09.58 is the second fastest 1000 free in the conference in 2022-23.
- Senior Jessica Schellenboom earned her fifth career CCSA medal, finishing second in the 200 breaststroke in NCAA B cut time of 2:12.81. Her fourth-place time of 1:01.45 in the 100 breaststroke would have finished top three at every CCSA Championship before last year. Schellenboom is ranked second in program history in the 200 breaststroke and third in 100 breaststroke.
- Junior Heather Gardner (1:01.94 – 100 breaststroke) has the third fastest time in the conference this season. Meanwhile, Penn State transfer Shelby Kahn is second in the 200 free (1:49.60). Junior Genna Joyce is ranked third in the conference in the 200 breaststroke (2:15.90). Freshmen Eden Troxell won the 1650 freestyle at the TYR ’85 Invite in 16:54.63, the third fastest mile by a CCSA swimmer so far this season.
Matchup Highlights
- Liberty is 5-0 all-time against VMI in swimming & diving, and the first win in the Lady Flames’ program history was over VMI on Oct. 8, 2010 as part of a tri meet at Radford. VMI’s last visit to Liberty Natatorium was Jan. 26-27, 2018, when Liberty bested the Keydets 290-44 in the first season of the natatorium.
- The Lady Flames are 16-2 all-time in home dual meets at Liberty Natatorium since the opening of the facility in the fall of 2017.
- VMI was a charter member of the CCSA in 2007-08 and remained in the conference through the 2016-17 season before joining the America East Conference.
- The Keydets are looking for their first dual meet win of the season, currently standing at 0-4.
- VMI’sLondon Yerasimideswas named Female Diver of the Meet at the Loyola Invitational in the fall. Additionally, current Keydets Rachel Greathouse (500 free) and Anne Bowles (100 breaststroke) hold VMI program records.
Up Next
The Lady Flames will host Campbell next Friday and Saturday to wrap up their regular season schedule. Liberty will honor its six seniors – Hannah Huenefeld, Maggie Huenefeld, Alexis Plogger, Jessica Schellenboom, Rachel Strickland and Eva Suggs – with a senior day ceremony on Saturday.
