For the most part, Liberty and Parkland's boys swim teams were dead even on the afternoon of Jan. 15, but by nightfall, the Hurricanes maintained their undefeated record by defeating the Trojans, 96-89.

"We prepared in sprints to get our hand speeds up, and at this point, we'll go with what we have. We're capable of beating them," said Liberty captain, Alex Fitch, halfway through the meet. "Coming into it, we knew it would be close. Both of us beat Southern Lehigh by the same amount of points, and we knew Parkland would be better than they were last year."

Fitch predicted Hurricane victories in the backstroke and breaststroke, and he was right.

Reid Rossi took first place in the back with a time of 59.25, Parkland's Matthew Engler came in second in 1:00.00, and Liberty's Alexis Calderon was third in 1:00.50. In the breaststroke, Nolan Vannatta placed first with a time of 1:03.54.

In the closest race of the day, Rossi also won the 100 butterfly with a time of 57.17, beating Parkland's Hyunbin Kim, whose time was 57.19.

Rossi, Vannatta, Calderon, and Brandon Hlavaty combined to take first place in the 200 medley relay, the first event of the day for the boys, with a time of 1:45.12, and Jacob Jones, Hlavaty, Robert Negron, and Evan Smith won the 200 free relay with a time of 1:30.71.

Second place finishes were just as important to Liberty, and there were several: Vannatta in the 200 IM in 2:09.24, Jones in the 200 free in 1:57.22, Negron in the 50 free in 22.31, and Smith in the 100 free in 50.34.

In the last event of the day, Jones, Negron, Vannatta, and Smith placed second in the 400 free relay with a time of 3:27.20. Parkland won that event in 3:27.02.

Fitch said, "We're trying to go undefeated or as close as possible. This is a good stepping stone to prove we're capable of that."

This week, Liberty will travel to Emmaus on Thursday.