Liberty’s boys swim team secured medals in two relay events and four individual events at the District XI Class 3A Swimming Championships on March 1 and March 2 at Parkland High School.

David Gabrielle, Malcolm Collins, Wade Wu, and Christian Hackett clinched second place in the 200 medley relay with their time of 1:36.04. Nazareth placed first in 1:35.87, and Emmaus was third in 1:36.12.

The Liberty foursome had a fourth-place finish in the 200 free relay with their time of 1:28.22.

Hurricane freshman Hackett anchored both relays.

“How about Christian? Wasn’t that great? He was not always part of [the relay],” said Liberty coach Reik Foust. “We were wrestling with fourth, we didn’t know who we were gonna get, and he just stepped up and started doing things the right way, and he was great. We could not ask more from him, and as a freshman, it’s scary, and he’s never been here before. He’s never seen this and never experienced it, but he manned up. I was super happy with today.”

Collins was crowned district champion after his swim in the 200 IM with a time of 1:53.65

“I was really confident going into the 200 IM, and I’m excited to see where I can go at states,” Collins said. “I was a little off in my breaststroke split, but I was really focusing on my backstroke. To be honest, a lot of it was a blur, but it comes with a lot of practice, going in, and doing what I’ve practiced time and time again.”

The Hurricane senior won the silver medal in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 56.78, out touched by Pocono Mountain West’s Carter Mui, whose time was 56.37.

Freedom’s AJ Black raced to a seventh place finish in the breaststroke with a time of 1:02.94.

Liberty junior Gabrielle won the bronze medal in the 100 backstroke with his time of 52.88.

“It felt really good. This year was the first year I started swimming backstroke. Over the season, it clicked for me, and I’ve been swimming well in it, so I went from a 58 or 59 in the beginning to a 52. I just kept dropping time and hope I can keep dropping time too,” Gabrielle said. “The fly was close. The back was close. I just really had to push to medal. I’m really happy.”

Gabrielle’s fly time of 51.77 earned him fourth place behind times of 51.14, 51.31, and 51.66, and ahead of 51.78 and 51.90.

Collins, Gabrielle, Wu, and Hackett will compete at the PIAA Class 3A State Swimming Championships next week at Bucknell University.