Liberty Women Destroy ASUN 800 Free Relay Record; Queens Men Tumble from the Top at ASUN Day 3

Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) – Men and Women

• Dates: Wednesday, February 19–Saturday, February 22
• Location: Allan Jones Aquatic Center, Knoxville, TN
• Defending Champions: Liberty women (1x), SMU men (1x)
• Live Results
• Live Video: ESPN+
• Championship Central: women’s site ׀ men’s site
• Fan Guide
• Teams: Bellarmine, Florida Atlantic (men), Florida Gulf Coast (women), Gardner-Webb, Liberty (women), North Florida (women), Old Dominion (men), Queens, UNC Asheville (women)
• Psych Sheets
• Results: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3
• Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2

The Liberty women scorched the ASUN Record in the 800 free relay and a big DQ helped the FAU men took a narrow lead over Queens heading into the final day of the ASUN Championships.

Women’s Recap

Team Standings After Day 3:

1. Liberty – 635
2. FGCU – 510
3. Queens – 482
4. UNC Asheville – 388
5. North Florida – 215
6. Gardner-Webb 146
7. Bellarmine – 135

Before the meet, Liberty head coach Jake Shellenberger told SwimSwam that a lot of his goals in setting up his ASUN Championships schedule was targeting the women’s 800 free relay record, and not only did the Flames succeed in that goal, they torched it to close the session on Friday.

The Liberty relay of Kamryn Cannings, Sydney Stricklin, Kate Baker, and Shelby Kahn combined for a 7:06.42, which took down the old CCSA/ASUN Record, and Liberty school record, of 7:10.73 that was done in 2018.

Splits:

• Kamryn Cannings – 1:44.10
• Sydney Stricklin – 1:46.11
• Kate Baker – 1:49.10
• Shelby Kahn – 1:47.11

Cannings’ split was also a new ASUN Record individually, taking 1.63 seconds off the mark that Stricklin set in winning the individual 200 free on Thursday. The record had previously stood since 2016, when Florida Gulf Coast’s Elise Haan swam 1:46.20.

Leaving Cannings out of the 200 fly, where she is the defending conference champion, was the crux of Liberty’s plan. Her previous 200 free best time was a 1:45.67 that she did mid-season as a freshman.

That swim for Cannings is also well under the 1:44.80 that it took for an NCAA Championship invite last year, which should get her a return trip to the NCAA Championships.

That was one of two likely NCAA qualifying performances to come out of the women’s racing on Friday. The other belongs to FGCU freshman Izzy Ackley, who swam 51.97 in prelims of the 100 back before adding, but still winning comfortably, in finals in 52.61.

It took 52.28 to earn an invite in the 100 back last season, though that race has gotten faster nationally this season.

Ackley’s contributions are part of a big wave of new energy for FGCU at this meet. They finished more than 200 points behind Queens at last year’s meet, but carried a narrow 28-point lead ahead of the Royals heading into the last day this year. Approximately 42% of their points through three days were scored by freshmen and approximately 70% by newcomers, including transfers, with a fully reshaped lineup for this season.

Their effort has been aided by a Queens relay DQ on Thursday, and with no diving events left, it will all come down to Saturday’s swimming events.

Another Friday freshman winner was Liberty’s Aly Bozzuto in the 100 breaststroke in a new conference record of 59.17. That cleared the old mark of 59.76 that was set by FGCU All-American Petra Halmai in 2021. That could be another NCAA qualifier for the Flames. She’s the favorite in the 200 on Saturday as well.

Queens sophomore Abigail Zboran won the last individual event of the day, the 200 fly, in 1:57.03 to keep contact with FGCU in a weak event for the Eagles.

Men’s Recap

Team Standings After Day 3:

1. FAU – 699
2. Queens – 684.5
3. Gardner-Webb – 339
4. Old Dominion – 335
5. Bellarmine – 218.5

Just as a DQ by the Queens women on Thursday added a jolt to the race, a big one by the Queens men on Friday did the same.

Queens’ men’s 800 free relay touched the wall 2nd but was disqualified when freshman anchor Matheus Przewalla began his exchange 50 yards too early, landing on freshman teammate Lance Young.

Przewalla attempted to catch himself, realizing his mistake, and climbed out of the pool and tried again on the proper exchange, but it was too late as the relay was disqualified.

Video of the incident:

A tier commentary for A tier drama at the ASUN Championships. pic.twitter.com/88T2NIYqtI

— Braden Keith (@Braden_Keith) February 22, 2025

Florida Atlantic wound up winning the race outright (although we don’t know what would have happened without the tumble) in 6:25.08, scoring 40 points. The Queens DQ cost them at least 34, and FAU now takes a 14.5 point lead into the final day of competition.

The Owls entered swimmers into diving events earlier in the meet, and if the margin doesn’t change, that just might be the difference on Saturday – though the meet should come down to the wire.

The men’s meet saw a diverse group of winners on Friday, with Queens’ day starting better than it ended. They finished 1-2-3 in the opening 100 backstroke, with junior Caden Fritz winning in 47.17, senior Andreas Maerz finishing 2nd in 47.43, and junior Eli Brinkman placing 3rd in 47.76. That gave them a 53-37 point advantage over FAU in that race.

In the next race, the men’s 100 breaststroke, Justin Bender from Gardner-Webb picked up the win. He swam 52.59, knocking a tenth off the old conference record of 52.69 done by SMU’s Kristaps Mikelsons last season.

Bender was 3rd in this event at last year’s meet, and the win is Gardner-Webb’s first ASUN conference title in swimming. Their last conference title came in 2022, when they won 3 in the CCSA.

Old Dominion’s Bryce Mortimer finished 2nd in 53.64, running down Queens’ Noah Beladi (53.72) on the final 50. Beladi had a six-tenths of a second lead at the halfway mark of the race.  before Mortimer powered past him late.

FAU freshman James Shevchenko finished the individual competition in the 200 fly with a 1:46.45, holding on to beat Queens freshman Nick Karaivavnov (1:46.75). Queens finished 2-3-4 in that race, with Keegan McKenney (1:46.91) and Matt Shanahan (1:47.03) not far behind the leaders.