In the first meet of the season, the Cardinals donned pink caps in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and defeated the Xavier Musketeers on the women’s side, 195-64 and 189-70 for the men.
Multiple event winners were headlined by junior Tanja Kylliainen, who won the 200-fly, 100-IM, and was a part of the 200-medley relay victory. Sophomore Kelsi Worrell also won three events, taking the 100-back, 100-fly, and part of the 200-free relay. Senior Breann McDowell won both the 100 and 200-free. On the men’s side, senior Kameron Chastain won every event he entered as he won as an individual in the 100- and 200-breast, and as a leg in both the 200-medley and 200-free relays. Freshman Jake Schultz captured both the distance events of the 500- and 1000-free, while senior defending National Champion Joao De Lucca won the 100- and 200-free.
“Breann McDowell really came out and preformed like a leader. I like the attitude of the group, I liked the way they raced,” head coach Arthur Albiero said, “it was a good chance for the freshmen to learn how this whole thing works, so they did a good job of just taking it race by race and just managing it. That’s what this group loves to do, it’s a very competitive group, so they’ve competed in a lot of different things, and now it’s finally a chance to compete in the pool. Results were pretty much what we expected at this time of the year.”
“The pink-out was fantastic, we’ve always talked about doing it. I’m glad we actually did it today,” Albiero said, “I think it just shows that it’s perspective. It’s swimming and it’s diving and it’s competition, but there’s much more important things in life, and for me, whenever I saw that, it was a quick reminder that this is a game, we play hard, but it’s still a game and if we can help out in any way in whatever small part, then we’re glad to do it.”
Here is a race-by-race rundown:
The women’s 200-medley relay team of Mary Mittel (26.54), Lucy Kramer (29.51), Tanja Kylliainen (24.69), and Abbie Houck (23.98) combined for a 1:44.72 and the win. The men’s medley foursome of Caryle Blondell (23.73), Kameron Chastain (25.13), Pedro Coutinho (22.12) and Lemar Linton (20.73) posted a 1:31.71 for the win.
In the women’s 1000-freestyle, Abbie Houck was first with a time of 10:24.36 and Abby Chin was second in 10:25.97. Jake Schultz was tops in the men’s event with a time of 10:24.36.
In the women’s 200-free, Cardinal Breann McDowell was into the wall at 1:50.04 with Andrea Kneppers touching second in 1:52.14. Abbie Houck made it a 1-2-3 sweep with a third place finish of 1:53.25. In the men’s Joao De Lucca posted a sizzling 1:37.43 and freshman Trevor Carroll went 1:39.22 for second. Matthias Lindenbauer was third in 1:42.51
In the women’s 100-back, Kelsi Worrell touched first in 55.35 with Erica Belcher touching second in 56.61. Kenzie Buss was third in 58.01. The men's 100-back was won by Grigory Tarasevich's 50.23 just edging Aaron Greene's 50.39. Ryan Massey third in 52.23.
Lucy Kramer won the women’s 100-breast with a time of 1:05 and Andee Kottree was into the wall in 1:05.71. In the men’s race, Kameron Chastain hit the wall in 56.44. Addison Bray was second in 57.43 with Dexter Thomas touching third in 59.38.
In the 200-fly, Tanja Kylliainen won with a time of 1:58.79 with Devon Bibault was second in 2:05.88 and Emma Coakley was third in 2:07.98. On the men’s side, Josh Quallen touched first in 1:50.76 with transfer Neil O’Halloran touching 1:52.81.
Sprinter Caryle Blondell won the 50-free with a time of 20.68 for the men. For the women, Rachael Lewis was first with a time of 23.89 and Mary Mittel was second in 24.35.
Breann McDowell took the 100-free event with a time of 51.28 with freshman Alex Sellers touching second in 52.79. For the men, Joao De Lucca was first in 44.46 and Caryle Blondell touched second in 44.67.
Junior Erica Belcher came in first place in the 200-back with a time of 2:02.11 with freshman Kenzie Buss not too far behind in 2:07.19, placing second. On the men’s side, freshman Aaron Greene snuck in for the victory ahead of freshman Grigory Tarasevich, with times of 1:48.96 and 1:49.18, respectively.
The Cardinal women took the top four spots in the 200-breast with senior Gisselle Kohoyda coming out on top in a time of 2:19.68. Freshman Andrea Cottrell was next with a time of 2:22.84, then sophomore Lucy Kramer in 2:23.16, and junior Tanja Kylliainen in 2:24.87. Senior captain Kameron Chastain had a time of 2:05.17 and outdueled junior Addison Bray for the win, who touched in 2:05.42, and redshirt junior Thomas Dahlia in 2:05.45 on the men’s side.
In the 500-free, freshman Andrea Kneppers won the event in a time of 5:01.36. Swimming exhibition, freshman Abbie Houck touched the wall with a time of 4:59.75. Freshman Jake Schultz gutted out a second victory on the day coming in with a 4:44.04 and sophomore Nate Bond was third with a time of 4:50.06.
Sophomore Kelsi Worrell won the 100-fly with a time of 54.91. For the men, redshirt sophomore Neil O’Halloran paced a group of Cardinals placing first with a time of 49.58. Sophomore Pedro Coutinho touched second in 49.67, then freshmen Mihael Vukic and Josh Quallen in times of 50.05 and 50.24.
Tanja Kylliainen took the top spot in the 200-IM with a time of 2:02.64 to solidify her second win of the day. On the men’s side, sophomore Nolan Tesone brought home the victory for the Cards in a time of 1:52.15.
In the final race of the day, the 200-free relay, the Cardinals captured the wins for both the women and men. Kelsi Worrell, Hanna Cowley, Lindsey LaPorte, and Alex Sellers combined for a time of 1:36.83. For the men, Kameron Chastain, Lemar Linton, Trevor Carroll, and Mihael Vukic totaled a time of 1:22.91.
In the diving events, the Cardinals competed exhibition as Xavier does not field a diving team. Junior Emily Stalmack took top honors in the 1-meter event with a score of 264.82, while newcomer freshman Sam Blair won on the men’s side with a 285.00.
In the 3-meter event, freshman Alessandra Murphy was first with a 280.88, and junior Matt Ryan captured the top spot for the men with a score of 311.78.
