Women’s Swim and Dive Defeats JMU At Home

The Liberty University Women’s Swimming and Diving team beat the JMU Dukes 190.5 to 105.5 in a dual meet at the Liberty Natatorium Oct. 26.

The Lady Flames looked to improve their winning streak against JMU, the defending Sun Belt champions, following an impressive performance against Tulane the previous weekend. 

The Lady Flames brought the heat as soon as the meet started, dominating all 14 races, including both relays and the exhibition events. Liberty secured the top two spots in six individual events. 

Senior Sydney Stricklin, redshirt sophomore Malia Francis, sophomore Sadie Stricklin and freshman Layne Jones finished 1-2-3-4 in the 100-yard backstroke. The Lady Flames also finished with an impressive 1-2-3 in the 200-yard breaststroke. Freshman Taylor Stasny placed first with a time of 2:20.96, and she was followed by her teammates, senior Grace Isaacs with a time of 2:22.11 and freshman Karis Francis with a time of 2:24.62.

Juniors Isabelle Gomez and Eden Troxell commanded the 1,000-yard freestyle, the longest event, and took first and second with times of 10:20.39 and 10:28.27, respectively. 

“It’s a race of mentality,” Gomez said. “Our coaches do a good job preparing us for these. Me and Eden train, and we swim for minutes at a time and practice racing each other back and forth. We just focus on getting our hands on the wall. You dive in and you stop thinking and go.”

Head Coach Jake Shellenberger relished in the win but was especially proud of his team’s performance. 

“A lot of what we do in practice is considered process-based,” Shellenberger said. “We don’t talk a lot about times. We don’t talk a lot about winning or losing. We keep the focus on the process of being a great swimmer and a great diver and then let the results take care of themselves.”

Many of the Lady Flames got an opportunity to shine in the meet. Senior Shelby Khan won a nail-biting finish in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:52.67, just barely ahead of JMU’s Madison Wimmer, who placed second with a time of 1:52.88. Sophomore Kamryn Cannings won both the 200- and 100-yard butterfly events with times of 2:02.73 and 55.39. Freshman Aly Bozzuto won the 100-yard breaststroke and the 50-yard freestyle with times of 1:03.49 and 23.55, respectively. In her inaugural season, Bozzuto has won every event she has competed in thus far. 

James Madison won both events in the diving portion of the competition despite the Flames’ impressive performance. The Dukes’ victory, however, was not enough to win the meet overall. 

Senior Maddie Freece placed second in the 3-meter diving competition with a score of 256.73, followed by fellow Flames sophomores Shannon Icard (252.83) and Chloe LaCount (246.08) for a 2-3-4 finish. 

Freece was also the highest-scoring Flame in the 1-meter dive with a score of 224.85, claiming fourth in the event. LaCount secured the Flames’ last point, placing fifth with a score of 219.30. 

After the successful defense at home, the Lady Flames will travel to Buies Creek, North Carolina, to take on the Campbell Fighting Camels Nov. 2 at 11 a.m.

Warden is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion.