Liberty Tops JMU 162-138 In First Dual Meet of Season

2023 Liberty vs James Madison

• October 13, 2023
• Harrisonburg, Va.
• SCY (25 yards)
• Results

Courtesy: Liberty Athletics

HARRISONBURG, Va. – The Liberty swimming & diving team, competing in its first dual meet of the season, downed James Madison 162-138 on Friday at JMU’s Savage Natatorium.

With the win, five-time defending CCSA champion Liberty improves to 1-0. Meanwhile, 2023 CCSA runner-up JMU opens its season at 0-1.

Liberty Event Winners

• So. Eden Troxell – 1000 freestyle (10:32.74)
• Jr. Shelby Kahn – 200 freestyle (1:53.14); 500 freestyle (5:04.79)
• Sr. Abbie Shaw – 100 backstroke (55.78)
• Sr. Heather Gardner – 100 breaststroke (1:04.78)
• Fr. Kamryn Cannings – 200 butterfly (2:03.88); 100 freestyle (51.80); 100 butterfly (55.16)
• So. Malia Francis – 200 backstroke (2:02.89)

Notable

• The Lady Flames won nine individual events, while the Dukes earned five individual-event victories and captured both relays.
• Liberty freshman Kamryn Cannings claimed three event wins (100 fly, 200 fly, 100 free), while Shelby Kahn won both the 200 free and 500 free.
• Sophomores Eden Troxell (1000 free) and Malia Francis (200 back) both earned their first collegiate victory in a dual meet tonight.
• Liberty went 1-2 in the 1000 free (Eden Troxell, Isabelle Gomez), 200 free (Shelby Kahn, Kate Baker) and 100 free (Kamryn Cannings, Sydney Stricklin) while going 1-2-3 (Malia Francis, Sadie Stricklin, Abbie Shaw) in the 200 back. JMU claimed a 1-2-3 finish in the 50 free while the Dukes took the top two spots in one-meter diving.
• The closest race of the evening was the 100 breaststroke, which Liberty’s Heather Gardner won by just .01 over JMU’s Riley Bridgman (1:04.78 to 1:04.79). The second closest was the 400 medley relay, with JMU earning a come-from-behind win over Liberty, 3:47.66 to 3:47.83.

Historically Speaking

• Liberty freshman Caroline Stamps is now sixth on the Lady Flames’ all-time Top 10 performers list in three-meter diving with her 271.35 from today. Meanwhile, classmate Chloe LaCount’s 247.50 is rated 10^th.
• LaCount is now ninth in one-meter diving in program history (250.88), while Shannon Icard (241.28) is 10^th.
• Kamryn Cannings is the first Liberty swimmer since Jessica Schellenboom (100 breaststroke, 200 breaststroke, 200 IM) on Jan. 23, 2021 against Campbell to win three individual events in a single-day dual meet.
• Shelby Kahn swept the 200 free and 500 free for the third time in her career, with the first two occasions both happening against Campbell last season.
• Liberty has four pairs of sisters on this year’s roster, in Kamryn and Kaycee Cannings, Ella and Shelby Kahn, Abbie and Grace Shaw, and Sadie and Sydney Stricklin. All four sets of sisters competed this evening.

Up Next
Liberty’s next competition will be a two-day dual meet at ASUN opponent UNC Asheville, Oct. 27-28.

Courtesy: JMU Sports

HARRISONBURG, Va. – Freshman diver Kate Vitolo won both diving events while achieving NCAA Zone qualifying scores, and James Madison swim & dive claimed wins in seven total events in a 162-138 setback to Liberty in Friday’s season-opening dual at Savage Natatorium.

Vitolo qualified for the 2024 NCAA Zone A Championships in both the 3-meter and 1-meter events. She opened with a score of 317.78 in the 3-meter dive, which is the 10th-highest score in JMU history. She swept the board with a victory in the 1-meter dive, posting a score of 287.93.

Also earning individual victories Friday were Jamie Cornwell in the 50 freestyle, Riley Bridgman in the 200 breaststroke and Jess Pryne in the 200 individual medley. The Dukes also captured wins in both the 400 medley relay and 200 free relay.

Cornwell led the team with three total victories, as she was part both relay wins, including anchoring the 400 medley.

Diving Events

• In addition to Vitolo’s win on the 3-meter board, Maddie Yager took third with a score of 248.70.
• Following Vitolo in the 1-meter dive was Yager, who finished runner-up with 258.90 points.

Individual Swim Events

• JMU swept the top-three spots in the 50 free, as Cornwell touched the wall first with a time of 24.18 seconds. A quarter of a second later, Alex Volk finished in 24.43. Rounding out the top three was Emily Drakopoulos in 24.51.
• Bridgman had an exciting finish in the 200 breast, coming from behind to win the event in 2:22.42, besting Liberty’s Sadie Stricklin by less than half a second.
• Pryne claimed the top spot in the 200 IM, posting a time of 2:06.99 to win the event by nearly a second.
• In the 100 back, Madison Cottrell took second with a time of 56.67. She later finished second in the 100 fly with a time of 56.69. Right behind Cottrell in the 100 fly was Cameron Gring, who finished the race in 58.88.
• Bridgman also took second place in the 100 breast with a mark of 1:04.79.
• Pryne claimed a pair of individual runner-ups, clocking a time of 2:07.41 in the 200 fly and a time of 5:08.81 in the 500 free.
• Rounding out JMU’s night in the pool were third-place finishers Riley Nugent in the 1,000 free (10:39.41), Katelyn Fitzgerald in the 200 free (1:54.09) and Volk in the 100 free (53.35).

Relays

• JMU claimed the 400 medley relay, as the team of Gring, Bridgman, Cottrell and Cornwell hit the wall in 3:47.66, besting Liberty by .17 seconds.
• Closing out the meet, JMU took first and third in the 200 free relay. The team of Cornwell, Gring, Cottrell and Volk won with a time of 1:35.89.
• Taking third place was JMU’s squad of Drakopoulos, Sydni Diehl, Abby Zindler and Madison Lehman in 1:38.86.

Quoting Head Coach Dane Pederson
“The first meet of the season is always fun. It’s great to see where we are as a program, what’s working and what we need to continue to improve upon. Liberty is a great challenge and forces us to up our competitiveness and intensity. It was a great night, and we gained a lot of perspective to move forward.”

UP NEXT
JMU is back in the pool on Saturday Oct. 28 when it travels to Greenville, N.C., for a dual meet at ECU. The meet is set for a 1 p.m. start.