Flames swimmers blaze path to seventh straight Eastern Regional championship

Friday, October 23

Richmond, VA

Liberty University Club Sports

Eastern Regionals

Liberty swimmers (from left) Lincoln Annise, Byron Long, Tim Brown, Grant Ruble, and Malachi Caballero

10/27/2026 12:33:00 PM | Men's Swimming

Senior transfer Tim Brown broke three program records and Liberty set more than 60 lifetime best times in the tsunami-like team showing in Richmond.

Members of Liberty University's men's swimming team established four new program-record times and posted more than 60 lifetime bests in capturing a seventh consecutive College Club Swimming (CCS) Eastern Regional Championship title, Saturday and Sunday at the Swim RVA aquatic center in Richmond, Va.

The Flames won in a landslide with 1,176.5 points, more than twice the total of regional rival University of Virginia (507.5), and enough points to place second in the combined team standings despite not entering a single female swimmer.

Tim Brown, a senior transfer from the University of Hawaii who swam previously at fellow NCAA Division I Ohio State University, broke former Flames standout Matthew Davidson's records in the 50-yard freestyle (finishing first in 19.90 seconds) and 50-yard backstroke (first in 22.47) as well as University of Cincinnati transfer Caleb Reno's record set last year in the 50 butterfly with a first-place time of 21.96. Flames junior Grant Ruble broke Reno's 100 fly record with his second-place showing in 49.47, behind only Villanova's Aidan Trenery (48.74).

"It was an electrifying performance," Liberty Head Coach Heath Grishaw said. "Swim RVA has a great pool, and UVA, which hosted the meet, did a really good job of putting on a great show for the finals. Winning the regional meet for the seventh time in a row was special, and breaking four team records was incredible. Our guys were swimming so freely."

The Flames were closer to catching the Cavaliers (414 points) in the combined standings than Virginia was in matching Liberty's men's team total (669).

"UVA always has good swimmers and is a great team to race," Grishaw said. "They always push our guys, which is awesome. We had a really fast region, and we are excited about that. They went into it trusting their training and letting their training speak for itself. It was fun to watch."

Other men's teams participating were Virginia Tech (third place, 318), George Mason (275), University of Pennsylvania (221.5), Penn State (185), Northeastern (182), William & Mary (167.5), West Virginia (142), Maryland (129), Villanova (127), James Madison (97), VCU (90), Rochester Institute of Technology (42), Drexel (40), Loyola (37), UMass (34), Old Dominion (18), George Washington (17), Binghamton (10), Towson (6), and St. Bonaventure (2).

"The biggest takeaway is how close the team's gotten and how fast," Grishaw said, noting this meet was four weeks earlier than last year. "We're just thankful for how the Lord has showed up for this team and provided the opportunity to race, especially with how fast they've been swimming. It is filling our hearts with gratitude. The Lord's been good to us."

This year's recruiting class, with the addition of Brown, the NCAA DI transfer, is stacking up to rank among the strongest in program history.
"Just our freshmen, not counting transfers, would have placed third (in the region meet) by themselves," Grishaw said. "That's how good this freshman class is. As long as everybody stays together and we continue to build," the future of the program looks promising.

Besides the record-setting performances, the Flames showcased their depth by winning the meet-opening 200 medley relay by more than two seconds over UVA in 1:30.92 and the meet-ending 400 medley relay nearly five seconds in front of the Cavaliers in 3:20.94. Brown swam the opening back stroke leg of the 200 medley — followed by junior Malachi Caballero (breast), Ruble (fly), and freshman Lincoln Annise (free) — and anchored the 400 medley that featured the same four swimmers, with Annise leading off with the back stroke and Caballero and Ruble repeating the breast and fly legs.

Brown, senior Byron Long, sophomore Mason Drumm, and Annise paced the Flames' 400 free relay to a first-place finish in 3:06.54. Virginia nipped Liberty in the 200 free relay by 0.39 seconds, even after Brown opened a 1.36-second lead on the Cavaliers after his first leg. Freshmen Brayden Todd, Drew McQueeney, and Annise swam the last three laps.

Individually, Brown won the 100 free in 44.98. Annise also won the 200 back in 1:54.57 and placed second in the 100 back in 51.34 followed by freshman Landon Crum (fourth in 53.19).

Freshman Avery Snyder (10:02.59), graduate Benjamin Bizeau (10:06.53), and senior captain Carter Rice (10:08.44) led a 1-2-3 Flames sweep in the 1,000 free.

Todd (1:53.32), sophomore Charlie Houston (1:54.98), senior Aiden Walter (1:55.16), and sophomore Tristan Massey (1:55.74) finished 2-3-4-5 in the 200 fly behind VCU's Eric Liao (1:52.77). McQueeney (25.97) and Caballero (26.10) placed second and third in the 50 breast.

Long won the 200 free in 1:41.93 followed by Drumm (second in 1:43.22) before placing second in the 200 IM (1:54.15) with Caballero (1:54.45) taking third. Long (4:06.53) and senior captain Thomas Hill (4:15.96) came in first and second, respectively, in both the 400 IM and the 500 free, with Long clocking a time of 4:40.83 and Hill finishing in 4:49.36 in the latter.

McQueeney (2:05.16) and sophomore Ethan Wanner (2:07.39) placed second and third in the 200 breast. Caballero also finished third in the 100 IM (52.06) and fourth in the 100 breast (56.00).

The dominant regional championship showing gives Liberty a leg up as it prepares to compete in the Southern Regional Championships hosted by Florida State University on Nov. 7-8 in Tallahassee, Fla.

"We are celebrating the victories, but we're going back to the drawing board," Grishaw said. "We have always celebrated this (regional title). This year, we're going to take it as 'Let's not be satisfied with this. Let's be hungry and go after it and do something more.' We are trying not to focus too much on (the CCS National Championships in) April, but on next two weeks. We will go to Tallahassee and see how we do and keep going. They're excited."

Grishaw and Assistant Coach Jordan Stackpole have challenged their swimmers to look at the calendar and not their watches when their alarm clocks wake them up each morning.

"They already know what time it is," Grishaw said. "The first thing they should be looking at is the calendar, reminding them of where they are in the season. It's October. It's not April. Today's this day, I'm going to handle my responsibilities, do really well at practice, not worrying about the (timing) board. We're taking one meet at a time, one practice at a time, keeping the Lord on our minds. We'll just wait and see what He has in store for us."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Video edited by Kylee Wright/Director of Club Sports Video & Media Staff