Liberty’s Adam Barlow yelled triumphantly as the sophomore swimmer realized he had broken not one, but two records in the 100 breaststroke during the Hurricanes’ meet against Stroudsburg on Dec. 9 at Liberty.

“I knew that Stroudsburg had good breaststrokers, so I had [Alfred Zheng] to chase for this race. Surprisingly, he didn’t swim that event, so I didn’t have anyone to chase,” Barlow said. “I was not expecting to go an all-time personal best and break the team record and the pool record. I was after the pool record (Malcolm Collins ‘24, 57.51) which was much slower than the team record (Malcolm Collins ‘24, 56.78).”

Barlow touched the wall with a time of 56.52.

“I looked immediately up at the scoreboard, and I already knew the time by memory, and it clicked, and I’m like, I got it,” he said. “Last spring, I tied with the team record, so I felt like I kind of deserved to beat it, and I really wanted to get faster than it, so I was training harder and working harder to get that time, but I do think, even with how good I swam, I can do better.”

Barlow’s teammate and Hurricane swim captain, John Cornish, was the first to congratulate the underclassman.

“I’ve always swum with John. I don’t think I remember a time of not being one of his teammates, and he’s really been there. I’ve never had a meet where he wasn’t there. I’ve always swum with John,” Barlow said. “I’m excited, but I do think I can go much faster than I already did. I have some goals set, nothing set in stone, but I’m going one practice at a time and seeing what times I can go.”

At the beginning of the season, Liberty coach Reik Foust told Barlow that the 100 breast and the 200 IM would be his individual events.

“It wasn’t a thing that we were setting up for today,” said Foust regarding Barlow’s record-setting race. “We’re happy he did that before Christmas, so we’re ready to go, and he’ll probably swim that at Williamsport (Holiday Meet) on the 27th.”

In team results, Liberty’s boys defeated Stroudsburg, 92-71.

Jonah Korpics, Barlow, Darren Nguyen, and Cornish opened the meet with a 1:42.90 victory in the 200 medley relay.

Nguyen won the 200 freestyle in 1:55.42, and Barlow won the 200 IM in 2:03.00, out touching Stroudsburg’s Zheng, whose time was 2:03.45.

Jaxson Dorsey took first place in boys diving for the Hurricanes with a score of 177.45.

Nguyen looked strong in the 100 butterfly with a first place time of 54.76, and Korpics won the 100 backstroke in 1:01.03.

Barlow, Cornish, Theodore Shang, and Josh Baluta teamed up to win the 200 free relay in 1:35.49, and Korpics, Shang, Nguyen, and Quinton Brown took first place in the 400 free relay in 3:33.55.

“We had all freshmen in the 400 free relay,” said Coach Foust. “That’s a nice place to be at 3:33 in the second meet of the season. What I was most happy with, and on the girls side as well, is that we were racing. It wasn’t so much about what our times are. You ultimately get your time, but that you’re in the race, and it sort of frees your mind a little bit so you’re not focused on your time, and you’re just focusing on the competition, which is where I want them to be thinking, and I thought we had really good races.”