Flames swimmers eclipse last year’s point total with second-place CCS nationals showing

Whittman-Brown-dives-in — Sophomore Whittman Brown (center), who finished second in the 200-yard freestyle, dives into the Indiana University Natatorium.

Liberty University's men's swim team repeated last season's swimmer-up showing to three-time defending national champion Purdue University with strong performances in individual and relay events swam Friday through Sunday at the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis.

Drew-Baxter-gold-medalist — Drew Baxter became the Flames' second individual gold medalist.

Freshman Drew Baxter's national championship swim in the 200-yard backstroke, the third event of the men's competition, set the tone for the Flames throughout the weekend. He edged Penn State's Ryan Strotheide by one-tenth of a second in 1 minute, 48.18 seconds, breaking the Flames' program record set by Matthew Davidson in 2021.

"Drew is our first-ever freshman individual national champion, which is very exciting," Liberty Head Coach Heath Grishaw said, noting that last year, Davidson ('23) defended his individual gold medal in the 100 back and swam the opening legs of two gold-medal relays to lead the Flames to a second-place national team finish at Ohio State. "We had a lot of great contributions from freshmen this year, but we couldn't have done what we did without (Baxter). He was pivotal."

Seeded first after preliminaries, Baxter also swam to a third-place showing in the 100 back in 49.81 and clocked a seventh-place time of 23.65 in the 50 back to total 75 points individually for Liberty, second-most on the team to sophomore Dillon Delaney's 81.

As a team, Liberty racked up 810 points, not in striking distance of the first-place Boilermakers' 1,060.5 total but well in front of third-place Georgia Tech (744.5). University of California-Berkeley (635) and Georgia (412) rounded out the top five.

Remarkably, the Flames' point total placed them fifth in the combined men's and women's standings even though they were one of only 12 teams out of 126 at the meet that didn't have women's swimmers. They improved their sixth-place combined finish from last year, landing behind only Purdue (1,336.5), Virginia (1,102.5), UC Berkeley (1,041), and Georgia (940.5).

"Finishing fifth was awesome," Grishaw said. "For our men, that is a big deal, and I am really excited with what they did. I do think our time is coming (for a men's team title). Purdue had some monsters and had several that were two or three years older than most of our swimmers. We have the depth and talent coming up and another phenomenal recruiting class coming in. We are a young team, with a ton of freshmen and sophomores, and we have plenty of room to improve.

The Flames featured their largest team in the seven-year history of the program and qualified a record 30 swimmers for nationals. Only three of those — senior Jonathan Tonnell, who will graduate in May, and juniors Trent Kolter and Colin Wood who will graduate a semester early in December — are not projected to be back next spring, when the national meet moves to Arizona.

In the first finals race on Friday night, the Flames placed second to Georgia Tech in the 800 freestyle relay in 6:49.36 with sophomore Whittman Brown leading the way followed by freshman Thomas Hill, junior Trent Kolter, and Delaney. Liberty also placed second to Purdue in both the 400 medley relay in 3:20.08, fueled by Baxter (back), Delaney (breast stroke), junior Jonah Rhodenizer (butterfly), and sophomore Max Phillipps (free), and the 200 medley relay in 1:31.14.

The Flames also touched the wall third behind Georgia Tech and Purdue in both the 200 free relay in 1:23.62 and the 400 free relay in 3:04.66.

"That was the first time we had all four of our relays make the podium for top-three finishes," Grishaw said.

Jonah-Rhodenizer-butterfly — Jonah Rhodenizer broke school records in the 50 and 100 butterfly.

Brown also took second in the 200 free in 1:39.88 while Hill placed second in the 1,000 free in 9:33.39 and third in the 500 free in 4:34.05 and Delaney came in second in the 50 breast in 25.60, fourth in the 100 breast in 56.56, and fourth in the 100 IM in 51.76. He also broke the program record in the 200 IM set by Robert Boehme in 2022 with his time of 1:55.31.

Depth in the distance events, under the training of Assistant Coach James Anderssen, helped the Flames even out a disparity from last season, when Purdue scored 65 points and Liberty tallied only 30 in the 1,000 free.

"We had five guys in the 1,000 this year and all five placed," Grishaw said, noting that after Hill's second-place finish, the Flames followed with freshman Carter Rice in fourth place in 9:47.35, sophomore Benjamin Bizeau (eighth in 9:57.88), junior Carson Chesnut (15th in 10:14.95), and sophomore Alex Sandoval (23rd in 10:30.29) for a total of 59 team points. "We outscored (the Boilermakers) in that event, which was super exciting."

Hill broke his own program record in the 500 free and the one set by Boehme in the 1,000 free while Rhodenizer also broke his own program record in the 50 fly (22.97) and Kolter's program record in the 100 fly (50.78).

Phillipps also came in sixth in both the 50 free in 20.83 and the 100 free in 45.95.

Jimmy-Blackstone-backstroke — Sophomore Jimmy Blackstone swims backstroke in a relay for the Flames.

"Last year, Max Phillipps swam extremely well on our relays but did not have a great individual meet and this year he was strong in both," Grishaw said, noting that swimmers such as sophomore Jimmy Blackstone and freshman Connor Woods stepped up in the relays as well. "I was proud of what those guys did to help others with their rest and recovery."

The Flames had two top-10 swimmers in the second men's event of the meet, the 400 individual medley. Freshman Byron Long came in eighth in 4:12.32 followed by Bizeau (10th in 4:14.61). Long also placed 10th in the 200 IM in 1:56.25.

Complete results are available online.

Grishaw expressed gratitude to his assistant coach, Anderssen, as well as the team's strength coach, Jared Lovelace, and athletic trainer, Tim Dofflemyer, as well as social media photographer Kate Foelsch.

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Video by Mia Cooper and Patrick Strawn/Club Sports Director of Video & Media

Cheering-section-swimming — Head Coach Heath Grishaw and Assistant Coach James Anderssen (in red) and team members cheer on Flames' swimmers.

Flames swimmers eclipse last year’s point total with second-place CCS nationals showing

Players Mentioned

Benjamin Bizeau

Jimmy Blackstone

Whittman Brown

Carson Chesnut

Matthew Davidson

Dillon Delaney

Thomas Hill

Trent Kolter

Byron Long

Jonah Rhodenizer

Carter Rice

Alex Sandoval

Colin Wood

Connor Woods

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