Liberty split its swim meet with Southern Lehigh as the Hurricane boys won, 116-54, and the Southern Lehigh girls won, 98-72, on Jan. 12 at Liberty.

Wade Wu, Tim Wetmore, David Gabrielle, and Danny Lehr opened the boys meet with a first-place finish in the 200 medley relay in 1:45.21, and Tommy Fortsch, Logan Malozi, Andrew Bays, and John Cornish picked up third-place points when Cornish won the anchor leg for a final time of 2:07.38 to Solehi’s 2:07.78.

In the girls medley relay, Liberty’s Brooke Sergent, Natalie Brezinsky, Audrey Bloss-Ferry, and Chelsea Hearn were out touched by Solehi’s Elizabeth Vezenov, Bruianna Wasem, Isabelle Johnson, and Alexis Hoyer for first place.

“We thought backstroke was going to be a little bit faster, so we figured backstroke and breaststroke would give us a pretty good lead,” said Liberty coach Reik Foust. “We knew their butterflyer was just a little bit quicker than Audrey, but Audrey held her own and did really well, but we needed a huge lead because Alexis Hoyer is a bullet.”

Hoyer went on to win the 200 freestyle in 2:13.61, and Gabrielle won the same event in the boys meet in 2:05.57.

“I’m not really a distance swimmer, but it’s kind of in the middle of pacing and sprinting, and if it’s close, you’re gonna have to sprint most of the time, so I think swimming the 200 has really helped my 50 and 100,” Gabrielle said.

Hoyer was first for the girls in the 100 free in 57.00, which Gabrielle didn’t swim for the boys, but Lehr won that race for the ‘Canes in 49.64.

Lehr also won the 50 free in 22.46, and Wasem was first for the girls in 25.75.

Solehi’s Grace Robinson took first in the 200 IM in 2:24.05, and Wetmore won the same event in 2:09.22.

In the 100 butterfly, the Spartan girls went 1-2 with Johnson in 1:02.64 and Robinson in 1:03.47, and the Hurricane boys went 1-2 with Eisenhardt in 57.17 and Gabrielle in 57.29.

“[Corbin Eisenhardt] and I have been pushing each other a lot, and every time I try to go faster, he’s been going faster with me,” said Gabrielle. “We’re always trying to help each other get better. Today was the closest, for sure, and the fastest for both of us. We have a really hard schedule toward the end, Parkland, Emmaus, and Freedom. All the swims are preparing us for that.”

Winners of the 500 free were Wasem in 5:30.80 and Wetmore in 5:09.57.

The Hurricanes won both 200 free relays with Sophia O’Hara, Morgan Muller, Hearn, and Brezinsky in 1:48.84, and Eisenhardt, Umut Akus, Wu, and Lehr in 1:34.74. Solehi’s Karansher Sidhu, Byron Adoyo, Luke Rizzo, and Cyrus Desai earned third-place points by .06 seconds.

In the 100 backstroke, Vezenov came in first in1:03.61, as did Eisenhardt in 1:03.88.

Liberty won both 100 breaststroke events with Brezinsky in 1:09.55 and Wu in 1:06.01.

Akus, Eisenhardt, Gabrielle, and Wetmore won the 400 free relay in 3:36.42 to end the meet.

The Hurricane boys had three top-three finishes: Gabrielle, Ben Raineri, and Cornish in the 200 free, Wetmore, Raineri, and Cornish in the 500 free, and Eisenhardt, Akus, and Bays in the 100 back.

Three swim meets remain on the regular season schedule for the Hurricanes.

“We have not yet had a meet where all the guys swam fast,” said Liberty coach Reik Foust. “We’ve had a meet where half the guys swam fast, and another meet where half the guys swam fast, but it’s not always the same half. But we’ve been happy with what some of the times are and with some of the races the guys have done. Same with the girls. As a whole group, everybody’s doing better.”