Flames swimmers leave Rams, Captains in their wakes in Richmond

Friday, October 24

Richmond, VA

5:00 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

Virginia Commonwealth University

Flames Head Coach Heath Grishaw and Assistant Coach Jordan Stackpole (right) look on from the pool deck during last Saturday's The Haunt meet hosted by VCU. (Photos by Josh Bingaman)

Flames swimmers leave Rams, Captains in their wakes in Richmond

10/31/2025 8:05:00 PM | Men's Swimming

In its last meet before hosting the Eastern Regionals on Nov. 15-16, Liberty showcased its depth and speed in distance and sprint events in the fast SwimRVA pool.

Liberty mens swimmers starting blocks — Liberty swimmers line up on the starting blocks, outnumbering opponents three-to-one in most heats of Saturday's races at RVA Swim.

Liberty University's men's swim team held a glorified intrasquad meet last Saturday at SwimRVA in Richmond, amassing 1,679 points to overwhelm host Virginia Commonwealth University (362) and Christopher Newport University (62) in a two-day College Club Swimming event called The Haunt.

In the combined men's and women's standings, the Flames also finished first by a wide margin without entering a single female swimmer, outscoring the Rams (772) and Captains (663).

"It was a great team-bonding trip," Liberty Head Coach Heath Grishaw said. "We had such a great meet, and the guys had great attitudes. There was a lot of yelling, a lot of cheering, really positive things. It was so fun. Everybody was really excited with what they saw. They loved watching their teammates knock it down and go again. They'd get up on the block, swim their race and swim it very well, and go at it again."

The Flames swept the top several positions in most of the races, finishing first in all but five events, with VCU's Eric Liao winning the 100 individual medley, 200 IM, 100 butterfly, and 100 backstroke and his teammate, Paul Datovech touching the wall first in the 50 back.

Blue ribbon-winners for Liberty included junior Byron Long in the 400 IM (4 minutes, 6.22 seconds); sophomore Jonah Rees in the 200 back (1:54.32); freshman Charlie Houston in the 200 fly (1:57.80, edging freshman teammate Tristan Massey, 1:57.94); sophomore Malachi Caballero in the 200 breaststroke (2:08.18), sophomore Caleb Reno in the 50 fly (23.04, followed closely by senior captain Dillon Delaney, 23.44) and 50 free (22.01, followed closely by sophomore Aaron Hall, 22.35, and senior captain Whittman Brown, 22:36), Delaney in the 100 breast (57.24) and 50 breast (26.31), sophomore JC Gordon in the 500 freestyle (4:40.38, followed closely by junior Thomas Hill, 4:40.86) and 200 free (1:44.71, followed closely by freshman Judah Fralic, 1:44.91); and Brown, who paced a 1-16 Liberty sweep the 100 free (47.34, followed closely by Delaney, 47.84).

Rees and Long finished close seconds to Liao in the 100 back (52.58) and 200 IM (1:54.65), respectively.

"Byron Long was a beast," Grishaw said. "It didn't matter what that kid did, any race he touched, he was dropping time in 400 IM,100 and 200 breast, and the 500 free. He was all over the place and swimming very well."

Sophomore Tommy Horton posted two lifetime bests, by three seconds in placing third in the 200 back in 2:00.99 and in finishing fourth in the 100 fly in 52.8.

"I really liked Caleb Reno's swimming, along with JC Gordon, Thomas Hill, Judah Fralick, (junior captain) Carter Rice, and (senior) Alex Sandoval in the 500 and 200 free, which they swam 10 minutes later and they crushed it," Grishaw said. "It was really impressive."

The Flames also won all three relays with Rees, Delaney, Reno, and Brown forming the only 400 medley relay team that finished in 3:28.17; Caballero, Delaney, Reno, and Brown combining for a dominant first-place performance in the 200 medley relay in 1:34.43, well ahead of the only other entry from VCU (2:03.56); and the 200 free quartet of Brown, Delaney, Rees, and Reno, which pulled away from VCU, 1:26.66-1:52.04.

"A lot of our guys are heavy strong on the distance side, but guys like Dillon Delaney, Malachi Caballero, Jonah Rees, and Caleb Reno all looked really good in the sprints," Grishaw said. "We're getting better with our sprinting, with better speed, better power. We're getting faster and faster, for sure."

The five-time defending champion Flames will host the Eastern Regional Championships on Saturday, Nov. 15, and Sunday, Nov. 16, starting at 10:15 a.m. in the Liberty Natatorium, where Grishaw expects to be severely tested by the University of Virginia, which has the potential to supersaturate the field with its depth.

"UVA's going to be challenging. That's the team to watch," he said, noting he is expecting a field of around 10 programs from the region that stretches from Maine to Virginia and a couple additional teams from the Southern Region. "We'll find out. It will come down to some relays.

Swimming in their fast home facility, with preliminaries on Saturday and finals on Sunday, the regional meet will be an excellent opportunity for Liberty's swimmers to earn time cuts for the CCS National Championships to be held in Greensboro, N.C., from April 10-12.

"National cuts are getting much faster," Grishaw said, noting the number of CCS teams and swimmers has grown steadily in recent years since COVID-19, which canceled the national meet the last time it was scheduled to take place in Greensboro.

"We did put a bid in to host it this year, but Greensboro, which has one of the nicest facilities on the East Coast, got it," Grishaw said.

He and the Flames were blessed by the generous support the men's swimming program received on Liberty's Giving Day, held last Wednesday.

"We almost raised $19,000, so we are super thankful for the friends, family, alumni, and current and past parents," Grishaw said. "We appreciate the love and support, financially and through prayer, and the words of encouragement."

He said the money raised will help the program to thrive this season — when Liberty plans to travel to three meets before hosting a Last-Chance Meet and traveling to nationals — and into the future.
"It will provide better gear for our guys, an underwater camera system to watch our strokes under water, and also help us to get some more power towers, trendy equipment to build on our team's power and speed," Grishaw said.

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer