Liberty Women’s Swimming Blow Out Campbell: Fall to UNC Asheville In Senior Celebration

Liberty’s women’s swim and diving team notched a 1-1 at home during a senior celebration meet Jan. 21-22 against UNC Asheville and Campbell University to close out the 2021-2022 regular season. 

The Lady Flames dominated Campbell 292-55 at the Liberty Natatorium, but the team fell to UNC Asheville in a close contest, 190-163. The Lady Flames held a 101-85 advantage over UNC Asheville after Friday’s action, but the team faltered on Saturday after losing seven out of nine events to finish .500 on the weekend. 

The Lady Flames finished their regular season at 5-2, including a 2-1 record in conference play. 

The weekend meet was more than just a regular meet for some of the players, though, as 10 seniors were honored in their last regular-season home meet: Lauren Chennault, Abigail Egolf-Jensen, Shelby Haines, Emma Hazel, Sophie Miller, Chloe Rippey, Olivia Robinson, Ashley Sennett, Allison Van Milligan and Amela Wickham. 

This senior class for the Lady Flames helped lead the team to competition in NCAA championship events three times. The seniors also led the team to three straight Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) titles. The Lady Flames boast a 36-5 overall record over the past four seasons, including  a dominant 6-1 against conference opponents. 

“Thank you, seniors!” the club’s official twitter account (@LibertyDiveSwim) posted following the meet. 

Liberty improved its all-time record against Campbell to 19-2, winning the last 19. The Lady Flames suffered their first loss in program history to UNC Asheville, previously holding a perfect 6-0 record against them. The loss to the Bulldogs also snapped a streak of 26 straight conference dual-meet wins for the Lady Flames, who, prior to this weekend, had not lost a CCSA dual-meet since the team’s loss to Florida Gulf Coast Jan. 7, 2017. 

Sophomore Maddie Freece had a strong weekend for Liberty, finishing first in the one-meter dive and scoring a season-best and NCAA zone-qualifying score of 280.35. Freece was the 2021 CCSA Diver of the Year as a freshman, and she continued her stellar start to her career this weekend. Teammates Lauren Chennault and Abigail Egolf-Jensen finished second and third with scores of 260.70 and 227.85, respectively. 

Despite the loss, the team still had its best performance of the season in the one-meter diving event from Freece, 1,650 freestyle event from freshman Mary-Ashlynne Gordon and 200 backstroke from junior Eva Suggs. 

The Lady Flames have competed in the NCAA swimming and diving championships each of the past two seasons, including four of the past five, and they will look to make it three consecutive trips to the NCAA championships following the conference championship meets. 

The Lady Flames will have one more home meet this season. The team will host the CCSA championship events Feb. 16-19 at Liberty Natatorium, and the seniors will aim for a four-peat.

McCusker is a sports reporter. Follow him on Twitter