The outcome of Liberty's girls swim meet against Emmaus hinged on the 400 free relay, and the Hurricanes' first place finish in their last event of the day clinched a 96-90 victory over the Hornets last week.

"We were really excited as much as nervous to win. It came down to the 400 free relay, and that was apparent to everyone, so we tried to psych up the girls in lane 3. I was behind the blocks because I wanted to cheer them on, and my sister [Maggie] was in that race. The first three [Kayla Drago, Maggie Walters, and Jocelyn Baker] kept up, and then Julia McCarthy broke away," said Liberty captain, Grace Walters.

The Hurricanes' time was 3:44.71.

McCarthy also teamed up with Chloe Kobus, Anita Kundu, and Drago to win the first event of the day, the 200 medley relay, with a time of 1:54.23.

Early on, the Hurricanes were fairly confident in their ability to defeat the Hornets until Emmaus began to catch up and subsequently tie the score three times.

The teams were in a push at the end of the breaststroke event, won by Emmaus's Lydia Garton in 1:12.75. Kobus placed second in 1:12.91.

Walters explained, "The points we got were the same amount that Emmaus got even though we had different places, and the meet was tied again."

Liberty took third and fifth place with Jessica Becker and Jessica Bassett, respectively, and Kelly Schnaufer and Kayla Apostolico of Emmaus were fourth and sixth.

First place finishers for the Hurricanes in other events were McCarthy in the 200 IM in 2:14.19 and the 100 free in 55.60, Jocelyn Baker in the 500 free in 5:26.54, and Drago in the 50 free in 25.36.

Walters said, "I watched the 50 free, and it was crazy because last place was 26.7. If that's going to be the slowest time then there's a lot of good freestylers in the pool."

Baker was outtouched in the 200 free by .16 seconds, and Walters was outtouched in the 100 butterfly by .03 seconds.

"It was an awful feeling seeing the board. I always try to kick a lot more at the end, but when you're pushing the end of your race, you're tired, but you can't drag," said Walters.

Liberty's Sabrina Krotzer was also outtouched in the same event by .32 seconds.

In diving, Liberty had a 2-3-4 finish, led by Rachel Finn, who scored 204.75 points. Regan Morrison was third, and Sam Kinkaid was fourth.

Walters said, "We haven't lost to Emmaus in three years, and it was still exciting to win."