A change in plans for the number of PIAA state swim meet qualifiers resulted in more opportunities for Liberty’s boys’ swim team when the total number of eight competitors in each event increased to a total of 16.

While the eight automatic qualifiers in each event are district champions, the second set of eight are time qualifiers from across the state.

Liberty junior Patrick Gilhool is the District XI Class 3A champion in the 100 butterfly and the 100 backstroke.

Last week, Liberty junior Addison Collins became a time qualifier in the 50 free, along with sophomore Danny Lehr, and freshman Malcolm Collins, who will compete in the 200 medley relay with Gilhool and Addison Collins. Senior Ben Service will go to the state meet as an alternate for the Hurricanes.

“They were very happy because they didn’t know,” said Liberty coach Reik Foust. “For a week, they’ve looked good in the water, and I’m excited to see if they can do better.”

Gilhool is seeded seventh in the fly with a time of 50.58 and seeded fourth in the back with a time of 50.43.

Addison Collins is the 13th seed in the 50 free with a time of 21.23.

Liberty’s 200 medley relay team is seeded 10th with a time of 1:35.95.

The medley relay team has deemed lane five, their practice lane, as good luck since they will swim in lane five at states.

The Hurricanes have two weeks to practice before the state meet, which is scheduled for March 20 at Cumberland Valley High School in Mechanicsburg.

“[Last] Monday was a long recovery day. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were a lot of sprints and not a lot of recovery, and Saturday was more recovery, but they still did sprints and tried to match or better their meet time,” Foust said. “This week, the yardage will come down.”

Since the Hurricanes will compete in the late afternoon and evening on Saturday, they will depart for Mechanicsburg sometime Saturday morning.

“We’re definitely excited,” Foust said, “and I think they’re going to do well.”