Courtesy: Liberty Athletics
The Liberty swimming & diving team travels to Arkansas for the first time in program history, taking on the Arkansas Razorbacks, Friday at 6 p.m. Eastern time at Arkansas Natatorium.
For this meet, Liberty and Arkansas will be wearing tech racing suits, the same style which will be worn at conference and national meets. Also, Liberty’s swimming & diving team will attend Saturday’s football game between Liberty and Arkansas at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
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)
Team Notes
• Liberty brings a 1-1 record into Friday’s meet. 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 last weekend in Miami, 234-214.
• 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 121-36 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
• 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 scored season bests in one-meter and three-meter at FIU last weekend. 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. Just two years into her career, she already has three conference individual titles and four CCSA podium finishes. 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 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. Last weekend, Harris posted the top time in the CCSA so far this season in the 50 fly (25.42), 100 fly (56.63), 200 fly (2:03.01), 100 IM (57.96) and 200 IM (2:05.94).
• 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. Shaw holds the CCSA’s best time this season in the 50 back (25.61), 100 back (55.06) and 200 back (2:02.39) and won all three events at FIU last weekend.
• 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. 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).
• Sophomore Sydney 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. She enterd the season ranked third in program history in the 100 freestyle.
• 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.
• 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 won the 400 IM last Saturday at FIU.
• Freshman Grace Shaw has won the 1000 freestyle in both of Liberty’s dual meets so far this season, winning individual events on the same day as her sister, Abbie Shaw.
Matchup Highlights
• Arkansas (3-2) entered this week ranked No. 19 in the CSCAA National Coaches Poll. The Razorbacks’ last meet resulted in a 161-139 home loss to Alabama.
• Liberty is 3-1 all-time against SEC programs, including 3-0 against Vanderbilt and 0-1 versus Florida. The Lady Flames competed against both of those teams on Jan. 3 in Gainesville, Fla., falling 178-80 to the No. 7 Florida Gators and defeating Vanderbilt 158.5-103.5.
• Last year, Arkansas finished in 11th place at the CCSA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships before placing 28th at the NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships.
• Arkansas returns All-American Vanessa Hermann, who placed 12th in the 100 breaststroke in 58.96 at last year’s NCAA national meet. Bella Cothern, Kobie Melton and Andrea Sansores also competed at the national meet last year.
• Melton (18th in 100 free, 49.34), Betsy Wizard (6th in 200 free, 1:46.35; 17th in 100 fly, 53.47), Sansores (13th in 100 back, 53.07), Hermann (12th in 100 breaststroke, 1:00.57) and Luciana Thomas (7th in 200 fly, 1:56.83) all are ranked in the Top 25 in the nation in their respective events.
Up Next
Liberty will host the TYR ’85 Invite, Nov. 18-20 at Liberty Natatorium to finish the fall portion of the regular-season schedule.