The Liberty women’s team swam to a dual meet victory over UNC Asheville in a two-day meet this weekend. The Lady Flames finished the meet with 166 points to UNC Asheville’s 132.
Liberty:
Day 1-
LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Liberty swimming & diving team won all eight events on Saturday at LaHaye Aquatics Center, opening a 119-29 lead over UNC Asheville during the first session of a two-day dual meet.
Liberty, meeting CCSA foe UNC Asheville in a dual meet for the first time, posted 1-2 finishes in both relays, while posting 1-2-3 finishes in the 500 free, 100 fly and 400 IM. Last night, Liberty opened its three-day homestand with a 162-107 win over Campbell.
Six different Lady Flames earned one individual event victory each, in Kristin VanDeventer (500 free), Kendall Hough (100 free), Victoria Tschoke (200 back), Prudence Rooker (200 breaststroke), Alicia Finnigan (100 fly) and Natalie Beale (400 IM).
The Lady Flames got the meet off to a strong start, taking first and second in the 400 medley relay. Liberty’s A team of Tschoke, Rooker, Ranndi Grubbs and Chelsea Pond swam 3:57.85 for the win.
VanDeventer won the 500 free in 5:06.44, leading a 1-2-3 Lady Flames sweep. Finnigan swam 5:14.10 for second, while Elizabeth Magnusson’s season-best 5:20.11 was good for third place. VanDeventer’s 500 free win was her fourth this season in the event, and second in a row.
Hough earned the 100 free victory with a 52.89 clocking, winning the event for the second day in a row and fifth time in 2015-16. Shelby Black turned in a season-best 53.85, placing third.
Tschoke picked up her fifth 200 backstroke victory of the season, and second in a row, touching first in 2:07.55. Beale earned runner-up honors in 2:09.41.
Rooker edged out UNC Asheville’s Morgan Rulevich for first in the 200 breaststroke, 2:23.28 to 2:23.97. Rooker has won the event twice this season. Morgan Noonan placed third with a 2:25.72 effort.
Finnigan spearheaded a Liberty sweep of the 100 fly, winning in 57.29. Grubbs (59.03) and Boothe (59.96) followed Finnigan in that order. Finnigan has now won the 100 fly on four occasions this season.
Liberty took the top three spots in the 400 IM, led by Beale’s 4:38.11. Beale now ranks fifth in program history in the 400 individual medley. VanDeventer swam 4:41.06 for second place, while Pond’s 4:46.25 was good for third.
The Lady Flames closed out day one by sweeping the 200 free relay. Liberty’s team of Hough, Rachel Hoeve, Rooker and Ricki Lee Hodges earned first place in 1:38.03.
Liberty and UNC Asheville conclude their dual meet tomorrow at LaHaye Aquatics Center. Tomorrow’s action begins at noonwith the 200 medley relay.
Day 2-
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Liberty completed a weekend sweep, downing the visiting UNC Asheville Bulldogs, 166-132 in a two-day dual meet that wrapped up on Sunday at LaHaye Aquatics Center.
The Lady Flames improve to 8-5 on the season, including 5-1 in CCSA competition, following today’s win. UNC Asheville falls to 3-3, 2-3 against CCSA teams. Liberty is now 1-0 all-time against the Bulldogs, and the Lady Flames have won seven straight dual meets inside Liberty Aquatics Center.
For the meet, Liberty posted the fastest times in 15 out of 17 events. With the Lady Flames leading, 166-37, after 11 events, Liberty swam the final six events as exhibitions, with the Bulldogs receiving all 95 points.
Liberty’s individual event winners on Sunday included Hannah Wakeley (1,650 free. 200 fly), Natalie Beale (200 free), Rachel Hoeve (100 back) and Kendall Hough (200 IM).
The host Lady Flames opened Sunday’s program with a 1-2 showing in the 200 medley relay. Liberty’s relay of Victoria Tschoke, Prudence Rooker, Danielle Boothe and Chelsea Pond swam 1:48.24 for first place.
Wakeley set a pair of pool records in winning the 1,650 free. Her 17:14.97 is a new 1,650 free pool record, while she set the 1,000 free pool record in 10:23.23 on the way out. Dani Jordan was runner-up with a 17:34.25 effort, while Ashlee Sall placed third in 17:38.14.
The Lady Flames took first, second and third in the 200 freestyle, led by Beale’s 1:55.76. Pond (1:56.14) and Kristin VanDeventer (1:56.63) followed, in that order.
During the 100 back, with Liberty swimming as an exhibition, Hoeve touched first in 59.25, while Boothe was runner-up at 59.94.
UNC Asheville’s Morgan Rulevich win the 100 breaststroke in 1:06.58, edging out Liberty’s Rooker, who swam 1:06.77. Anna Dickinson finished next with a 1:07.35 clocking.
Wakeley turned in the fastest 200 fly time, 2:07.37, while teammate Ranndi Grubbs placed second in 2:11.33.
Rulevich earned her second event victory of the day, swimming 24.77 to win the 50 free. The Bulldog freshman was followed by Liberty’s Boothe (24.99) and Ricki Lee Hodges (25.21).
Hough clocked a 2:09.55 200 IM, the top time on Sunday, while teammates Tschoke (2:11.88) and Morgan Noonan (2:14.79) finished second and third.
Liberty’s 400 free quartet of Elizabeth Magnusson, Pond, Shelby Black and Rooker recorded the fastest time, 3:35.53.
Liberty returns to the road for its final dual-meet competition of the season. The Lady Flames will compete in a quad meet at former CCSA rival Davidson, next Friday and Saturday. While at Davidson, Liberty will take on the host Wildcats, along with current CCSA foes Gardner-Webb and Georgia Southern.
UNC Asheville:
Day 1-
LYNCHBURG– The UNC Asheville Women’s Swimming team trails Liberty University (119-29) after the first day of the program’s first two-day dual meet with the Flames.
NOTABLES
-Asheville’s Morgan Rulevich claimed second place in the 100 Yard Freestyle, posting a time of 53.68. She finished just behind Kendall Hough of Liberty, who clocked a time of 52.89. Rulevich holds a season-best time of 51.62.
-The Bulldogs’ 200 Yard Freestyle Relay team finished third behind two Liberty squads with a time of 1:44.64. Asheville’s relay team was made up of Elizabeth Conte, Kennedy Shannon, Emily Werth and Reid Jackson.
-In the 500 Yard Freestyle, Alejandra Sanchez Garcia captured a fourth place finish for Asheville, clocking a time of 5:21.23. Garcia holds a season-best time in the 500 Freestyle of 5:09.44.
-In the 200 Yard Breaststroke, Rulevich picked up another second place finish, with a time of 2:23.97. She narrowly missed first place by a margin of .69 of a second. She was joined in the pool by sophomore, Allie Snyder who placed sixth with a time of 2:32.43
QUOTABLES FROM HEAD COACH ELIZABETH LYKINS
On Day One– “I’m proud of the way we are swimming right now, especially coming out of a hard week of training .We had a few good performances today, and I’m looking forward to see what we can do tomorrow. The girls are working hard on the things we want to improve on, and we are on track to be successful when conference comes around.”
UP NEXT
-The UNC Asheville Women’s Swimming team will be back in action tomorrow as they conclude with day two of their conference dual meet with Liberty. The swimmers will take the pool at noon.
Day 2-
THE RUNDOWN
Score: Liberty 166, Asheville 132
Records: Asheville (3-3, 2-3 CCSA)
Liberty University (3-1, 3-0 CCSA)
Location: Lynchburg, VA.
Time: 12:00 a.m.
ASHEVILLE– The UNC Asheville Women’s Swimming team fell to Liberty on the road in their first two-day dual meet with the Flames in program history.
NOTABLES
-Asheville’s Morgan Rulevich picked up two first place finishes in the 100 Yard Breaststroke and 50 Yard Freestyle to up her overall season total to a team-high 12 wins. Rulevich posted times of 1:06.58 (100 Breast) and 24.77 (50 Free).
-Sophomore, Emily Werth picked up a third place finish in the 100 Yard Backstroke with a time of 1:00.42. Werth came up third in a close race won by Rachel Hoeve of Liberty with a time of 59.25.
-The Bulldogs also picked up a third place finish in the 200 Yard Butterfly. Alejandra Sanchez swam a 2:14.78 to earn Asheville a place in the top three. Sanchez’s season-best time this season in the 200 Yard Butterfly is 2:07.11.
-The Lady Flames chose to swim the last six events of the contest as exhibitions. While the 100 Yard Breaststroke and the 50 yard Freestyle fell in the final six events, Rulevich did capture both events outright, posting the fastest time in the pool for both events.
QUOTABLES FROM HEAD COACH ELIZABETH LYKINS
On the Meet: “Overall, I’m pleased with the successes that we had today. I was happy with how we raced and it was good to see that our girls were competing and really supporting each other today.”
On looking ahead: “We have one more hard week of training before we start to taper in preparation for conference. We will be fine tuning our technique and their racing strategies as we move forward. There is only one more dual meet on January 30 to prepare us for our conference championships. On that day, we will honor our seniors and I hope that it will be a great day for them.”
UP NEXT
Following this weekend’s dual meet, Asheville returns home to face North Carolina A&T on January 30 at 4:00 p.m. in their last regular season meet before the CCSA Championships. Their dual meet with NC A&T will also be the Bulldog’s senior day, where they will honor the program’s first two seniors to swim for four years at Asheville, Galen Broido and Alessandra Troncoso.
Swimming news courtesy of Liberty and UNCA Swimming & Diving.