Liberty swim coach Reik Foust took a lot of ribbing for his Hurricane girls winning a virtual meet by just one point last week.

“Coaches were calling me, asking, ‘How do you do that in a virtual meet?’” Foust laughed.

The Hurricane girls won their season opener, 93-92, over Nazareth last Tuesday, and for many, it was their first time back in the water in almost a year.

“It’s a lot harder knowing you’re the first event of the day and you’re having to start off the energy of the meet and not knowing who you’re racing or who you’re neck and neck with,” said Liberty captain Talia Lehr, who led off in the 200 medley relay. “Knowing that Nazareth is normally neck and neck with us, it was a lot of pressure, but I think the girls’ team has each others’ backs.”

Many times, a close meet comes down to the last event of the day, the 400 free relay, but this time, the Hurricanes didn’t know they were leading by seven points up to that point, nor did Nazareth know they were that far behind.

While Nazareth took first place in the first and last relay of the meet, Liberty’s Sarah Park, Maddi Drager, Morgan Muller, and Maryann Mohamed took first in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:55.65.

First place finishers in individual events were Brooke Sergent in the 200 free with a time of 2:09.62 and the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:04.19, Drager in the 200 IM in 2:30.08 and the 500 free in 5:48.88, and Park in the 50 free with a time of 27.66.

Liberty’s Keller Pooley won the diving event with a score of 189.75.

“It is pretty scary not to know if you won or how your dives are comparing to the other team’s without being able to see them, but I was pretty confident that I had won,” Pooley said.

Pooley’s best dive last Tuesday was her inward. She repeated it as her best on Thursday when Liberty and Nazareth competed virtually for the second time, and Pooley won the event with a score of 181.88.

“I got an eight both days on it,” she said. “Just because it’s my first time competing it ever on Tuesday, my inward 1 1/2 [was second best] because it was better than I expected, and today it was even better.”

Most girls’ times improved across the board on Thursday despite the Hurricanes’ 99-86 loss to the Blue Eagles.

Individual event winners were Sergent in the 200 free with a time of 2:08.08 and the 100 free with a time of 59.15, and Drager in the 200 IM in 2:28.47 and the 500 free in 5:48.90.

The Hurricane girls concluded Thursday’s meet with a first place finish in the 400 free relay with Lehr, Park, Drager, and Sergent racing to a time of 4:11.07.

This week, Liberty will face, virtually, Northampton on Monday and Thursday.