Early Season Upset: Louisville Ladies Top Tennessee

It took a pool record swim in the final event for Louisville to edge past the Tennessee women’s swimming and diving team 152-148 on Thursday at Ralph Wright Natatorium.

The Lady Vols were ahead 144-139 heading into the 400y free relay, but the Cardinals’ tandem of seniors Whitney Campbell, Anna Dishuck and Liz Halet, and junior Sarah Andrews touched the wall in a pool-best and NCAA B-cut performance of 3:23.97 to earn its first win ever against the Orange and White.

In all, the Cardinals recorded wins in six events with Campbell winning the 50- and 100-free, Leslie VanWinkle picking up a win in the 200-free, Therese Bergstrom taking the 200-breast and Hannah Gadd topping the board in the 3-M springboard.  It was the first win over Tennessee in program history.

“I could not be prouder of how we fought for that win,” said U of L head coach Arthur Albiero.  “It is another step in our evolution as a program.  All credit goes to the  incredible leadership we got from our seniors.”

“We missed a lot of opportunities to win this meet,” Lady Vol head swimming coach Matt Kredich said. “We did not respond well to the challenge Louisville gave us today. We knew they were a very good team and they performed well.”

In the 200-medley relay, the Lady Vols won in 1:43.09, U of L’s Eszter Povaszy, Therese Bergstrom, Raine Thompson and Whitney Campbell were second, posting a time of 14313.  U of L’s team of Kara Savegnago, Heather Holtom, Grite Apanaviciute and Liz Halet were third scoring for the Cards with a time of 1:44.85.

In the grueling 1000-free, Aleksa Akerfelds took top honors with a time of 10:07.08. Amanda Henleben, U of L’s record holder, finished second with a time of 10:15.19 and Stephanie Juncker was fourth, going 10:29.7.

In the 200-free, U of L made it a one-two sweep with a win by Leslie VanWinkle (1:50.52), who is back from her redshirt year and Sarah Andrews drove  to the wall for second (1:51.64).

In the 100-back, UT’s Jennifer Connolly won with aNCAA B-cut swim of 54.62. 

In the 100-breast,  Heather Holtom was U of L’s top finisher, touching second in 10346 behind UT’s Jamie Saffer.  U of L’s Therese Bergstrom was third in 10355

In the 200-fly, newcomer Jackie Sherrard made her mark in her collegiate debut with a win in 2:04.55.

UT was led by sophomore diver Gabbi Trudeau, who qualified for the NCAA Zone Diving Meet on the 1-meter while winning the event with a score of 2:68.72. Additionally, she finished second on the 3-meter (271.28).

“I’m certainly happy with Gabbi’s performance on the 1-meter,” Tennessee diving coach Dave Parrington said. “But obviously the final result of the meet is disappointing. Louisville is vastly improved on the boards and it was obvious they were a little more prepared for this meet, as we are preparing for the championship season down the line. However, I thought (freshman) Skye Sanders performed well in her first meet.”

Collecting an NCAA B-cut in the season-opener was senior Jamie Saffer, as she grabbed first in the 100y breast (1:02.71). She also swam a leg on the winning 200y medley relay (1:43.08).

Joining Saffer on that relay was senior Michele King, junior Morgan Farrell and sophomore Jenny Connolly.

Later in the meet, Connolly broke former Lady Vol and Olympic silver medalist Christine Magnuson’s pool record in the 100y fly, winning the event in 54.65.

Whitney Campbell set a new pool record with her win in the 50-free in 23:21.  Nicole Landisch was third, going 23.47. Newcomer Grite Apanaviciute was fifth, scoring for the Cardinals with a 24.60.

After the break, Whitney Campbell hit the wall first in the 100 free with a 50:95, Liz Halet was third in 51.21.

UT Junior Aleksa Akerfelds was the only Big Orange athlete to win two individual events, claiming the 500y free (4:59.03) and the 1000y free (10:07.08).

Tennessee’s only other event victory came in the 200y back when junior Tricia Weaner (2:00.51) led a sweep of the first three places. Freshman Kelsey Floyd (2:00.83) was second and Connolly (2:01.32) was third.In the 200-breast, the Cards swept the top two spots with Therese

Bergstrom touching first in 2:16.05 and freshman Heather Holtom surging
to second in 2:17.14.

Hannah Gadd won comfortably with a score of 302.85 with Kayla Purkiser finishing third with 265.05. Lindsey Stephens was able to sneak in for points with a 233.93 in 3-M.

The closely meet came down to the final 400-freestyle relay with Liz Halet anchoring a pool record 3:23.97 and NCAA B-cut for the win. Halet had the fastest split in the entire field with a 50.02. Whitney Campbell led off, followed by Anna Dishuck with Sarah Andrews setting up Halet. The B-relay team of Eszter Povaszy, Lacey Bobo, Aileen Cole and Leslie VanWinkle hung on for third to secure the victory.

“That is what makes college swimming great,” said Albiero. “Everybody contributes. Our divers did their part and the relays dug deep for a win. We have great respect for Tennessee and now we must build on this win.”

The Lady Vols are now 7-1 all-time versus Louisville, but now stand at 0-1 as the 2009-10 season begins.
 
UT will look to rebound at noon on Saturday as it travels to Baton Rouge, La., to face LSU.
 
“We’ve got LSU on Saturday and I know they’re licking their chops, because they’re every bit as good as Louisville if not better,” Kredich said. “The question will be: ‘Are we ready to compete?’ We’ll practice early tomorrow and then head down to Baton Rouge to find out.”