Flames swimmers surge past competition at UNC, earn several national qualifying cuts

Saturday, February 24

Chapel Hill, NC

10:00 AM

Liberty University Club Sports

University of North Carolina

Flames freshman Thomas Hill won the 500 freestyle and placed second in the 200 free Saturday at UNC. (Photos by Katie Foelsch)

Flames swimmers surge past competition at UNC, earn several national qualifying cuts

2/27/2024 1:06:00 PM | Men's Swimming

Liberty has now qualified 32 of its 35 swimmers for the April 5-7 College Club Swimming National Championships at Indiana University’s historic IU Natatorium in Indianapolis.

Colin-Wood-Liberty-breaststroke — Colin Wood was one of six Liberty swimmers in the top 20 in the 100 breaststroke.

Liberty University's men's swimmers dominated the rest of the pool of teams competing at Saturday's final regular-season meet, the Tar Heel Invitational hosted by the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

The Flames accumulated 876.5 points to pull away from the host Tar Heels (548.5) as well as North Carolina State (414), UNC Wilmington (210), South Carolina (155.5), Elon (94), Duke (78), Appalachian State (61), Virginia Commonwealth (50), Tennessee (48), Coastal Carolina (30.5), and Western Carolina (4). In the combined men's and women's team standings, Liberty placed third behind only UNC (1,067.5) and NC State (917) despite not entering any female swimmers.

"We actually swam better this weekend than we did last weekend at Virginia," Flames Head Coach Heath Grishaw said. "We definitely had more guys qualify for nationals in different events, including (sophomore) Jeff Serle, who was able to qualify for the first time this year. Most guys will be swimming 3-4 events individually and competing in relays as well."

At the CCS National Championships, there will be a total of five relays: the 800, 400, and 200-yard freestyle and 400 and 200 medley. At UNC, Liberty entered teams into two of the three offered, winning both the 200 medley and 200 free relays.

In the meet-opening 200 medley, freshman Drew Baxter led off in the backstroke followed by sophomore Dillon Delaney (breaststroke), junior Trent Kolter (butterfly), and sophomore Max Phillipps (free), who combined to win in 1 minute, 35.21 seconds, edging UNC (1:35.86) and NC State (1:37.01).

Whitman-Brown-Liberty-swimmer — Sophomore Whitman Brown anchored Flames' the winning 200 free relay.

Delaney paced the 200 free relay followed by Phillipps, Kolter, and sophomore Whitman Brown, who touched the wall in 1:26.52, well ahead of the anchor swimmers from NC State (1:27.23) and UNC (1:27.75).

Individually, freshman Thomas Hill (4:50.83) led a gold-silver-bronze Liberty sweep of the podium in the 500 free, followed by freshman Carter Rice (4:55.25) and Brown (4:55.64).

Kolter won the 50 fly in 23.56 seconds with junior Jonah Rhodenizer placing third in 23.75. Later, Baxter (52.67) and Black (53.25) finished second and third, respectively, in the 100 fly.

Baxter (24.47) led a second- through sixth-place sweep by the Flames in the 50 back, followed by sophomore Jimmy Blackstone (25.48), senior Jonathan Tonnell (25.69), freshman Cole Dunne (26.03), and Delaney (26.55), who also placed third in the 100 breast (1:00.78). Phillips (47.35), Kolter (47.55), and Brown (48.02) finished 2-3-4 in the 100 free.

Hill (1:47.53) and sophomore Benjamin Bizeau (1:48.83) placed second and third, respectively, in the 200 free. Rhodenizer (54.53) and Dunne (56.64) finished second and third, respectively, in the 100 individual medley and Delaney (2:04.18), Rhodenizer (2:04.68), and sophomore Alex Sandoval (2:06.88) came in second through fourth, respectively, in the 100 IM. Phillips (21.67) took third in the 50 free.

Baxter (1:54.43) and Serle (2:07.68) finished 1-2 in the 200 back time trial and Kolter won the 200 fly time trial in 1:57.40.

Tyler-Suchyj-butterfly — Tyler Suchyj was one of seven Flames in the top 30 out of 63 swimmers in the 50 fly.

Of their roster of 35 swimmers, the Flames have now qualified 32 for the April 5-7 College Club Swimming National Championships at Indiana University's historic IU Natatorium in Indianapolis.

"This will be the first time (for IU to host CCS Nationals), but a lot of big meets have been held there," Grishaw said. "It is definitely one of the most well-known pools in the United States. It is a small stadium for swimming, so it has one of the tightest (swim entry) caps, limited to 1,600 student-athletes. But spectator-wise, it's going to have one of the best seating capacities, with that facility and Georgia Tech able to hold the most (fans)."

After placing second at nationals last season at Ohio State, Liberty is focused on training to be in peak performance to contend for individual and team titles in less than six weeks.

"As far as wins and losses and times going into nationals, a lot of guys are achieving their personal best times, which is exciting," Grishaw said. "We're moving in the right direction and we will wait to see what happens in April. We are really working on our speed endurance, with a lot of practice time spent swimming at race pace and trying to hold that for as long as possible."

He said with 32 swimmers competing, the Flames definitely have the depth for another strong team finish at nationals.

"At these meets (UVA and UNC), our quality stands up against everybody's quantity," Grishaw said. "(For nationals) it depends on how we swim quality-wise when the time comes. At this point, we just need to focus on our training and if we can do that well, we might surprise ourselves. We have a lot of guys that have the potential to be competitive and do something pretty special."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer