Jan. 11 was a special day for Liberty’s swim team as they remembered and honored former Hurricane, John Jones, by wearing blue shirts with the slogan, Knock the Socks off Diabetes, during their meet against Southern Lehigh.

Liberty coach Reik Foust spoke before the meet, remembering Jones as a member of the swim team who loved colorful socks and graduated in 2020 before losing his life to diabetes. In honor of Jones, the Hurricanes held a raffle and sold socks in his memory during the meet.

Last Thursday was also the Hurricanes’ first “big racing meet” since early December.

“The boys stepped up to it. The boys did a great job. I was so proud of my girls today and how they swam,” Foust said. “Maybe aside from the Easton meet, which was our first one, this was our first really big racing meet. We raced, and I was super happy. We had best times all around.”

In team scores, Liberty’s boys won, 112-67, and Southern Lehigh’s girls won, 108-75.

“The kids were just killing it today,” said Foust. “They got beat or they didn’t get beat, but they faced up to it, and they raced. That’s what we want, and that’s what we talk about all the time, and they did it. We want to be able to carry that into some meets coming down the road and stand up to some fast swimming.”

The boys 200 medley relay team of David Gabrielle, Christian Hackett, Wade Wu, and Ben Raineri took first place in 1:45.52.

Hackett then won the 200 free in 2:02.34, and Wu won the 200 IM in 2:13.49.

“I wanted to go out and get after it,” said Wu. “I was happy with the first 100, but after that, I kind of fell off, so that’s part of my endurance that I have to work on in the coming weeks, so I’m pretty happy with that swim.”

Wu also took first place in the 100 butterfly in 56.31.

“I’m really happy with that,” he said. “That’s my personal best. I didn’t have that many opportunities to swim it in years past, so this is my first year where I can swim different events. Maybe I can commit to that event and make it my best. I’m happy to fill whatever role the coaches need me to.

“The biggest part for me is being a captain and being a leader because a lot of the guys team are young, so I think my biggest role this year is being someone they can look up to as a role model. Swimming-wise, I’m grinding every day to improve.”

Katie Bruno won the 100 fly for the girls team in 1:05.33.

Gabriella Madeira took first place in girls diving with a score of 181.70, and Jaxson Dorsey placed first in boys diving with a score of 162.45.

Raineri sprinted to first in the 50 free in 24.66, and Gabrielle was first in the 100 free in 49.63, as well as the 100 backstroke in 56.89.

In the distance event, Leah Onia and Hackett were the 500 free winners in 6:02.21 and 5:31.49, respectively.

Onia also won the 100 breaststroke in 1:12.38, and Leo Negron won the same event for the boys in 1:16.30.

Hackett, John Cornish, Logan Malozi, and Gabrielle closed out the meet with a 400 free relay victory in 3:46.52.