Flames swimmers splash into spring by leaving competition in their wakes at UVA

Gallery: (2-20-2024) Men's swimming at UVA

Liberty University's men's swimming team made a smashing spring semester debut on Saturday with a first-place finish at the Wet Wahoo Invitational at the University of Virginia's Aquatic & Fitness Center in Charlottesville, Va.

The Flames racked up 736 points to dominate swimmer-up North Carolina State (432.5), as well as the host Cavaliers (310.5), Virginia Tech (240.5), UNC Chapel Hill (193.5), William & Mary (112), UNC Charlotte (109), JMU (85), Wake Forest (79), Virginia Commonwealth (59), Old Dominion (46), Christopher Newport (42), and American (17).

Although Liberty did not have any women's swimmers at the meet, it placed third in the combined men's and women's standings behind only Virginia (1,350) and NC State (843.5).

Head Coach Heath Grishaw considered the first meet in more than three months a success for the Flames, who showed that they had maintained their conditioning and are preparing to peak at the April 5-7 College Club Swimming National Championships at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind.

"The difficulty with Club Swimming is that you don't have the opportunity to keep our guys here (between semesters) so you may have to get the guys to knock the rust off that they accumulated over Christmas Break," he said. "But we are on a really good path right now and we will definitely be contenders at nationals."

A highlight of Saturday's meet was the return of freshman Drew Baxter, the seventh-ranked recruit out of Tennessee who left the team three days into the fall semester. He won both the 50- (24.74 seconds) and 100-yard back stroke (53.79) events in his collegiate debut with the Flames.

"He had burned out on swimming, but decided to come back for the spring semester because he missed the structure and staying in shape, and he's doing great," Grishaw said. "He's not back to where he was at the end of last summer yet, but that was pretty impressive to turn around and win his first two events."

Junior Jonah Rhodenizer (53.81) and sophomore Dillon Delaney (54.69) finished 1-2 in the 100 Individual Medley and Delaney also won the 50 breaststroke in 27.14. Sophomore Whittman Brown won the 200 freestyle (1:45.47) to lead a 1-2-3 sweep ahead of freshman Thomas Hill (1:48.19) and Delaney (1:49.79). Hill also led a 1-2-3 Flames finish in the 500 free in 4:42.02 followed by freshman Carter Rice (4:57.27) and Benjamin Bizeau (5:02.02). Brown also placed second in the 100 free ahead of third-place sophomore Max Phillipps, who also placed second in the 50 free in 21.69. Rhodenizer also finished third in the 50 butterfly in 23.71 and the 100 fly in 53.30
In the 200 IM, Flames sophomore Alex Sandoval (2:05.81) touched the wall a close second to Virginia Tech's Aaron Steptsov (2:05.72), with Rice finishing fourth in 2:08.38.

After opening the meet with a third-place finish in the 200 medley relay, Liberty tied NC State for first place in the 200 free relay in 1:27.88 with a lineup of Brown, freshman Connor Woods, Delaney, and Phillips.

Liberty will next compete at UNC Chapel Hill this Saturday in its final regular-season meet, more than a month before nationals.

"Right now, it comes down to discipline," Grishaw said. "Can we remain disciplined in everything, from practice, recovery, even in the classroom to reduce stress? A lot of those factors will come into play between now and nationals."

"We've got a good training trip planned for Spring Break in Virginia Beach," he added. "Our focus is on swimming, just on ourselves. Are the guys swimming well and are we improving on the right things from practice to practice and meet to meet? We can talk about wins when we get to nationals."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer

Flames swimmers splash into spring by leaving competition in their wakes at UVA

Players Mentioned

Benjamin Bizeau

Whittman Brown

Dillon Delaney

Thomas Hill

Jonah Rhodenizer

Carter Rice

Alex Sandoval

Connor Woods

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