Courtesy: Liberty Athletics
The Liberty swimming & diving team will head to Huntington, W.Va., for the fourth time in program history, competing against the Herd in a two-day dual meet, Friday and Saturday at Frederick A. Fitch Natatorium. The Lady Flames enter the weekend with a 1-0 record, while Marshall opens its season on Friday.
How to Follow the Lady Flames
This weekend’s meet be available for video streaming live on ESPN+.
Friday, Oct. 22
Liberty at Marshall
Frederick A. Fitch Natatorium
Huntington, W.Va.
Live Video: ESPN+
Saturday, Oct. 23
Liberty at Marshall
Frederick A. Fitch Natatorium
Huntington, W.Va.
Live Video: ESPN+
Team Notes
• Liberty earned its 10th straight dual meet victory, opening the season with a 142-115 win at Campbell on Oct. 2. The Lady Flames showed off their talent and depth in that meet, as nine different Lady Flames earned individual-event victories.
• Of the nine Liberty swimmers to earn individual-event wins at Campbell, five (freshmen Mary-Ashlynne Gordon, Grace Isaacs and Sydney Stricklin and sophomore transfers Abbie Shaw and Genna Joyce) were competing in their first meet as Lady Flames.
• Liberty, hosting the CCSA Championships for the second time, won its fourth-ever CCSA title in 2021, and third in a row. The Lady Flames and FGCU finished in a tie for the conference championship, as both teams finished with 1,748.5 points.
• 12th-year Head Coach Jake Shellenberger has led the Lady Flames from the program’s inception. He has posted a 116-33 dual-meet record, being named CCSA Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year three times (2012, 2014, 2019). His teams have gone 62-14 all-time against CCSA competition.
• Last year at the CCSA Championships, the Lady Flames registered 21 podium finishes and seven event victories, to go along with four NCAA B cuts and one program record.
• Liberty has a packed home schedule, including a tri meet with Penn State and East Carolina on Oct. 29-30. Additionally, the Lady Flames will host the TYR ’85 Invite and 2022 CCSA Swimming & Diving Championships.
• Andrew Helmich led the Lady Flames’ divers to much success during the 2020-21 season. Freshman Maddie Freece swept both one-meter and three-meter diving events at the conference meet, being named CCSA Women’s Diver of the Year. Freece and Lauren Chennault went on to compete in the NCAA Zone Championships.
• Liberty placed four athletes on the 2021 VaSID All-State University Division Women’s Swimming & Diving team. Seniors Lindsey Cohee and Payton Keiner, along with junior Lauren Chennault and freshman Maddie Freece, were all named to the second team. Meanwhile, Freece was named State Co-Rookie Diver of the Year.
• A total of 11 current Lady Flames have posted CCSA podium finishes in their career, led by six each from Lauren Chennault and Emma Hazel. Eva Suggs has earned five top-three placings, followed by four from Jessica Schellenboom. Olivia Robinson (3). Maddie Freece (2), Chloe Harris (2), Abigail Egolf-Jensen (1), Chloe Rippey (1), Abby Strohmeier (1) and Emily Zimcosky (1) have all podiumed as well.
Student-Athlete Notes
• Freshman Grace Isaacs holds the top time in the CCSA in the 200 IM (2:08.47) this season. Abbie Shaw, a sophomore transfer from Kentucky, is ranked second in the 100 back (56.86), while junior Eva Suggs is second in the 200 backstroke (2:05.41) and freshman Sydney Stricklin is second in the 100 fly (57.50).
• Sophomore Maddie Freece had a record-setting freshman season in 2020-21, being named CCSA Women’s Diver of the Year. She won both one-meter and three-meter diving at the CCSA Championships, and went on to earn finals appearances on both boards at the NCAA Zone Championships. Freece finished ninth in three-meter diving at Zones, the first Lady Flame all-time to finish in the top 10 in an event at NCAA Zone Championships. She enters the season as Liberty’s record holder in one-meter diving (293.15).
• Senior Lauren Chennault, the 2020 Co-Outstanding Women’s Diver of the CCSA Meet, has finished on the podium in both one-meter and three-meter diving at each of the last three CCSA Championships. That includes a conference title in one-meter diving as a sophomore. Chennault is currently the program record holder in three-meter diving (317.85).
• 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 15th at the NCAA Zone Championships in both 2019 and 2020.
• Junior Eva Suggs, the 2020 Most Outstanding Female Newcomer of the CCSA Meet, posted three podium finishes as a freshman and two last February. She won the 200 freestyle at the CCSA Championships in both 2020 and 2021, leading a 1-2-3 Liberty podium sweep both times. Suggs currently ranks third in program history in the 200 freestyle (1:47.82).
• Redshirt senior Emily Zimcosky won the 200 freestyle at the 2019 CCSA Championships, but has had injuries slow down her career since then. She ranks second in program history in the 200 free (1:47.41).
• Senior Emma Hazel is a three-time runner up at the CCSA Championships in the 200 backstroke and finished second in the CCSA 200 freestyle in 2021. She is tied with fellow aviation major Lauren Chennault for the most podium finishes (six) among active Lady Flames. Hazel also ranks third in program history in the 200 back (1:56.53).
• Junior Jessica Schellenboom finished second in both the 100 breaststroke and the 200 breaststroke at the 2020 CCSA Championships and took third in both events in 2021. She ranks third in program history in 200 breaststroke (2:14.23).
Matchup Highlights
• The Lady Flames have won their last 10 dual meets, a streak which started on Jan. 3, 2020.
• Liberty is 5-0 all-time against Marshall in swimming & diving, including 2-0 in Huntington, W.Va. The Lady Flames won at Marshall to open the 2011-12 season, and most recently claimed a 251-200 victory over the Herd in West Virginia on Nov. 9-10, 2018. That meet featured additional events, including the 50 backstroke, 50 butterfly and 50 breaststroke.
• Marshall finished in fifth place with 416 points at the 2021 Conference USA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championship.
• Sophomore Paige Banton set a program record in the 200 breaststroke at the 2021 C-USA Championships, winning the event in 2:12.95. Banton was named to the CSCAA Scholar All-America Team. Sophomore Eszter Laban returns after finishing fourth in the 400 IM, while junior Nicole Rueff placed sixth in the 200 fly at the 2021 conference meet.
Up Next
Liberty will host a Big Ten program for the first time in program history, hosting Penn State and East Carolina next Friday and Saturday at the Liberty Natatorium. Current Liberty head coach Jake Shellenberger was an assistant coach at Penn State for three years, while associate head coach Jessica Barnes swam for the Nittany Lions.
