Liberty senior captain Dillon Delaney competes in the breast stroke during Saturday's Wet Wahoo Invitational at the University of Virginia's Aquatic & Fitness Center. (Photos by Mason Shipman)
Men’s swimmers flooded out of first place by host Virginia, UNC at Wet Wahoo Invite
2/26/2026 9:32:00 AM | Men's Swimming
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Liberty lost the numbers game to the Cavaliers and Tar Heels, but qualified a few more swimmers for the April 10-12 CCS National Championships in Greensboro, N.C.
A rising tide of stronger, faster student-athletes in College Club Swimming has helped lift Liberty University's men's swimming program to the next level while making the pool of competitors that much deeper.
That depth was on display in Saturday's Wet Wahoo Invitational at the University of Virginia's Aquatic & Fitness Center in Charlottesville, Va., where the Flames totaled 523 points but still finished third to the host Cavaliers (576) and second-place University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (531.5).
Liberty Head Coach Heath Grishaw said the way the scoring was tabulated was different from the way it was totaled for the Eastern Regional Championships — which the Flames won for the sixth time in a row in mid-November at the Liberty Natatorium — and the way they will be added up at the April 10-12 CCS National Championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.
"UNC is not in our region, but it had a good team," Grishaw said. "That was a good thing to see, to know what to expect at nationals. The scoring at this meet means nothing. UVA's always going to win the way it scored it, because they have 200 people on their team. When it gets to nationals, we'll see who's going to be there."
"If everything lines up, and everyone's able to swim the way we are seeing it go, we do have the depth over a lot of these schools," he added. "UNC has three or four guys that got cut for its NCAA Division I team and has four or five guys who are really good, but they've got to spread them out, whereas we have 16-20 guys who have a good chance of scoring in at least one event."
North Carolina State (390), which will host the national meet, finished fourth, followed by Tennessee (306), George Mason University (117), the College of William & Mary (94.5), James Madison University (79), Old Dominion University (49), Wake Forest University (24), and Christopher Newport University (17).
Grishaw said the Flames left plenty of room for improvement, but he believes they will rise to the occasion for the meet that matters most at the GAC, where many of his swimmers have competed before arriving at Liberty.
"Half of our guys swam really well, and the other half not so great," Grishaw said. "This time of year, we swam better than in past years. With seven weeks until nationals, I feel confident our team is at a good place and heading in the right direction."
Sophomore Malachi Caballero led a 1-4-5 Flames finish in the 100 breaststroke, winning in 58.89 seconds. He also placed second in the 200 breast in 2:06.71, a split-second behind UVA's Charlie Cross (2:06.54). Senior Kierro Stubbs placed fourth in the 50 breast in 27.04.
The Flames swept the top three positions in the 200-yard butterfly led by junior Byron Long (1 minute, 57.97 seconds) and freshmen Tristan Massey (1:59.25) and Charlie Houston (2:00.04).
Liberty posted a 1-2-4-5-6 finish in the 1,000 freestyle, the longest race of the day, paced by Judah Fralic (9:52.60) and Long (9:55.11). Sophomore JC Gordon, a Virginia Tech transfer who missed the Flames' first home meet of the semester against the University of Lynchburg due to injury, won the 500 free in 4:53.80, with Houston placing third in 5:00.47.
In the 200 backstroke, sophomores Jonah Rees (1:54.01) and Gordon (1:56.52) finished second and third, respectively behind UVA's Nicholas Settembrine (1:53.90). Rees led a 2-4-5 Flames showing in the 100 back in 52.89, followed by Caballero (55.08) and Gordon (55.45).
"Jonah did a good job," Grishaw said. "What a meet he had."
In the 100 Individual Medley, Rees finished third out of 64 swimmers, behind only two Tar Heels, in 53.46. Fralic touched the wall a distant second in 1:45.59, six seconds behind UNC's John Donovan (1:39.52), and a close third in the 200 IM in 1:58.88.
"Fralic is a freshman, and he was a beast," Grishaw said.
Junior captain Carter Rice won the meet-opening 400 IM in 4:26.87.
Flames senior captain Whittman Brown landed in fourth in the 100 free behind two UNC swimmers and one from UVA in 47.12, more than a second off his seed time pace.
In the 200 medley relay, Flames sophomore Chaz Schuijt, senior captain Dillon Delaney, sophomore Caleb Reno, and Brown came in fourth in 1:36.63 behind UNC (1:28.40), NC State (1:33.82), and Virginia (1:36.50).
Delaney, Reno, Gordon, and Brown anchored Liberty's third-place 400 free relay that finished in 3:18.17 before sophomore Tommy Horton, Fralic, Schuijt, and Rees settled for sixth behind NC State (1:25.32) and two teams from both UVA and UNC in the 200 free relay in 1:28.77.
"For JC (Gordon), it is a praise that he's back in the water and swimming again after he just got back from injury," Grishaw said. "You can tell he's been out of the water, and it is good that he got his butt kicked by some of these guys. That sets a fire under him, and let him know that he has time to get back to full speed."
Grishaw said a handful of Liberty swimmers earned national qualifying cuts and a handful more still can at next Saturday's Last Chance Meet at the Liberty Natatorium. Currently, that meet will also draw swimmers from UVA, Radford, High Point, VCU, Rutgers, and potentially Kentucky.
"After that, we will have a lot of time to sharpen the details, and for the swimmers to rest their bodies for nationals," he said, noting the Flames will spend Spring Break on a training trip to Charleston, S.C.
By Ted Allen/Staff WriterThe Flames, including senior Ben Bizeau, left everything in the water at the Wet Wahoo Invitational hosted by Virginia on Saturday.
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