Liberty swim team opened its season against Northampton last Thursday with a 117-63 victory for the girls and a 121-57 victory for the boys.

In one of the closest races of the night, Liberty senior, Reid Rossi, out-touched Northampton’s Gavyn Frankenfield in the 100 fly with a time of 56.93 to 57.03.

Rossi said, “I kind of caught him out of the corner of my eye, but I just had to focus ahead.”

Rossi seemed to gain the most ground on his second turn, but Frankenfield, in the next lane, was always right beside him.

“I’ve been working on turns and more specifically, underwater. I knew my endurance would be lacking in the first meet,” said Rossi.

In other close victories for the Hurricanes, Maggie Walters won the 50 free in 26.27, and Northampton’s Rebecca Nothstein was second in 26.81, Shannon Hogan took first place in the 100 free in 59.39 over teammate, Kendra Smith, whose time was 59.84, and Natalie Richardson won the 100 breaststroke in 1:14.70 over Northampton’s Brynne Rockovits whose time was 1:14.71.

LHS boys and girls won the diving events as Rachel Finn placed first with 184.45 points, and Meryem Okumus was second with 150.80 for the girls, and Kellen Rogers placed first over both Northampton divers with a score of 129.15.

“It’s exciting,” Rogers said. “For the first meet, I wasn’t expecting a good place.”

Thursday was Rogers’s first meet ever, as he is a newcomer.

“I was really nervous. I had to go last. I felt really shaky, but on the second dive, I had to get over it,” he said.

Rogers’s best dives of the day were his inward and his back twist.

“Once you leave the board, it kind of decides it for you,” he said.

Other winners for the Hurricanes were Anna Lehr and Nolan Vanatta in the 200 free, Christopher Chambers in the 200 IM, Kayla Drago in the 100 fly, Robert Negron in the 100 free, Erin Wetmore and Brice Kessler in the 500 free, Sabrina Krotzer in the 100 back, and Ben Stuckey in the 100 breast.

The Hurricanes won five out of six relays, the girls just missing first place in the 400 relay by .03 seconds.

Also last week, Freedom’s boys’ defeated Pocono West 106-64, but the girls lost 91-76.

First place winners for the Patriots were Reilly Ward and Al J Bell in the 200 free, Brandon Burnette in the 200 IM, Andie Graney and Cameron Bell in the 100 fly, Ward in the 100 free, Colin Burnette in the 500 free, Rachel Giles in the 100 back, and Al J Bell in the 100 breast.

Freedom also won the 200 free relay for the boys and the girls teams.