By Jordan Ozer
Day three of the American Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships wrapped up Saturday at the Ralph Wright Natatorium in Louisville, Ky. with the host Louisville Cardinals keeping their hold on the top spot on both the men’s and women’s side. The third day of competition featured preliminaries in the morning and finals in the evening session in thirteen different events.
The night opened with the women’s 400-Yard IM, as Louisville’s Tanja Kylliainen set her sights on besting her own pool record set in the morning session, and did so with a first place finish in 4:04.96. The time was a NCAA ‘A’ cut, as she finished nearly ten seconds ahead of the second place swimmer Morgan Pfaff from Rutgers, with Louisville’s Abby Chin taking third.
In the men’s 400-Yard IM, a tight swim saw the closing speed of UConn’s Sawyer Franz propel him into first place late in the race. Franz caught Louisville’s Nolan Tassone to touch the wall in 3:47.88, ahead of Tassone’s 3:48.39. Louisville freshman Jake Schultz took third in 3:54.53.
In the women’s 100-Yard Butterfly, SMU’s Marne Erasmus re-set her pool record from the morning session, swimming a NCAA ‘A’ Cut time of 51.73. She beat Louisville’s Kelsi Worrell to the wall, with Worrell also reaching a NCAA ‘A’ Cut mark in 51.76.
The men’s 100-Yard Butterfly was controlled by the host Cardinals, who took all three medals. Pedro Coutinho won in 47.04, beating teammates Josh Quallen (second in 47.18) and Aaron Young (third in 47.19) to the wall.
In the women’s 200-Yard Freestyle, Cincinnati’s Jackie Keire won her second individual event of the Championships, taking first after previously winning the 500-Yard Freestyle. She used a late burst to outrace Nina Rangelova for the win, finishing in 1:44.73, 0.27 seconds ahead of second place.
The men’s 200-Yard Freestyle was another Louisville sweep, led by an outstanding swim by Olympian Joao De Lucca, who took first place for the fourth time in four tries at the Championship. De Lucca burnt past the competition, swimming a NCAA ‘A’ Cut time of 1:32.29. Teammate Matthias Lindenbauer took second place in 1:35.92, with third going to Trevor Carroll, who swam 1:35.95
Andee Cottrell of Louisville out-battled SMU’s Rachel Nicol to take first place in the women’s 100-Yard Breaststroke. The freshman swam a 59.88 to take first, with Nicol in second at 1:00.11 and SMU’s Tara Nicholas in third at 1:00.78.
Thomas Dahlia won the men’s 100-Yard Breaststroke with a time of 52.74, earning another first place finish for Louisville and leading a Cardinals’ sweep of the podium. Teammates Addison Bray (53.67) and Kameron Chastain (53.68) took second and third, respectively.
Joanna Wu gave Rutgers a first place finish with a victory in the women’s 100-Yard Backstroke. Wu touched the wall in 52.97, the first victory for Rutgers at the Championship. SMU’s Isabella Arcila took second place in 53.80, with Erica Belcher behind her for bronze in 53.87.
In the final individual event of the evening, the Cardinals took the top four spots in the Men’s 100-Yard Backstroke. Freshman Grigory Tarasevich claimed in first place in 47.23. He was just ahead of teammates Aaron Young, who took second place just .08 behind Tarasevich, and Aaron Greene in third in 47.67.
Men’s Three-Meter Diving was next, with the results mirroring the 1-meter board, with SMU sweeping the podium. Sean Burnett came in first, followed by teammates Bryce Klein and Hayden Hodges. Burnett’s 389.5 bested Klein’s 379.90 and Hodges’ 357.85.
In a very competitive women’s 400-Yard Medley Relay, SMU pulled out a victory over Louisville with a strong finish. Senior Nina Rangelova, a strong performer for SMU on the Championship, closed in 48.38 to lead SMU to a NCAA ‘A’ Cut Time of 3:33.21. Louisville was second, also picking up a NCAA ‘A’ Cut in 3:33.99. Rutgers took third in 3:39.84.
The men’s 400-Yard Medley Relay went to Louisville to cap Friday’s evening session. The Cardinals’ Grigory Tarasevich, Thomas Dahlia, Aaron Young and Joao De Lucca propelled the hosts to a time of 3:19.94 in the win.
The American Athletic Conference Championship concludes with the final day tomorrow, Feb. 21 beginning at 10 a.m. with swimming preliminaries. Diving prelims and consolations will begin at 12:30 pm. Tomorrow’s events include the 1,650-Yard Freestyle, 200-Yard Backstroke, 100-Yard Freestyle, 200-Yard Breaststroke, 200-Yard Butterfly, 400-Yard Freestyle Relay and Platform Diving. The senior recognition ceremonies will be at 5:35 p.m. Finals will be in the evening session, beginning at 6 p.m. You can watch a live stream, hosted by The American Digital Network’s Jamie Corun at www.theamerican.org/sd.
Men’s Team Standings
1 Louisville 718.5
2 SMU 503
3 UConn 475.5
4 Cincinnati 345
Women’s Team Standings
1 Louisville 654
2 SMU 443
3 Rutgers 378
4 UConn 309
5 Cincinnati 271
6 Houston 228
Women’s 400-Yard Individual Medley Final Results
1 Tanja Kylliainen Louisville 4:04.96
2 Morgan Pffaf Rutgers 4:13.85
3 Abby Chin Louisville 4:16.48
4 Kirsty McLauchlan SMU 4:17.31
5 Barbra Brottman Rutgers 4:23.33
6 Deanna Matthews SMU 4:23.41
7 Tessa Pena UConn 4:25.90
8 Carly Munchel Louisville 4:27.58
Men’s 400-Yard Individual Medley Final Results
1 Sawyer Franz UConn 3:47.88
2 Nolan Tassone Louisville 3:48.39
3 Jake Schultz Louisville 3:54.53
4 Cody Green Cincinnati 3:56.91
5 Michael Lennon UConn 3:57.54
5 Bryan Draganosky Louisville 3:57.54
7 Joe Bott Cincinnati 3:59.87
8 Joey Ferreri Cincinnati 4:08.07
Women’s 100-Yard Butterfly Final Results
1 Marne Erasmus SMU 51.73
2 Kelsi Worrell Louisville 51.76
3 Devon Bibault Louisville 53.88
4 Brittany Guinee Rutgers 54.73
5 Monika Babok SMU 55.03
6 Mary Moser Rutgers 55.25
7 Tara O'Prey UConn 55.65
8 Mary Mittell Louisville 55.80
Men’s 100-Yard Butterfly Final Results
1 Pedro Coutinho Louisville 47.04
2 Josh Quallen Louisville 47.18
3 Aaron Young Louisville 47.19
4 David Boland Louisville 47.92
5 Ziga Cerkovnik SMU 47.94
6 Tyler Rauth SMU 48.75
7 Tucker Wells SMU 48.86
8 Juan Lopez Louisville 48.91
Women’s 200-Yard Freestyle Final Results
1 Jackie Keire Cincinnati 1:44.73
2 Nina Rangelova SMU 1:45.00
3 Andrea Kneppers Louisville 1:47:63
4 Ursa Bezan SMU 1:47.87
5 Breann McDowell Louisville 1:47.36
6 Heather Winn Houston 1:48.70
7 Weronika Wasiakowska Cincinnati 1:49.18
8 Abbie Houck Louisville 1:49.29
Men’s 200-Yard Freestyle Final Results
1 Joao De Lucca Louisville 1:32.29
2 Matthias Lindenbauer Louisville 1:35.92
3 Trevor Carroll Louisville 1:35.95
4 Matt Roney SMU 1:37.28
5 Chris Girg UConn 1:38.63
6 Joe Scherpenberg Cincinnati 1:39.91
7 Felix Samuels UConn 1:40.06
8 Sean Battle UConn 1:40.89
Women’s 100-Yard Breaststroke Final Results
1 Andree Cottrell Louisville 59.88
2 Rachel Nicol SMU 1:00.11
3 Tara-Lynn Nicholas SMU 1:00.78
4 Gissel Kohoyda Louisville 1:02.34
5 Greta Leberfinger Rutgers 1:02.37
6 Sammie Wheeler Cincinnati 1:02.95
7 Lucy Kramer Louisville 1:03.39
8 Allyson Perrotti Rutgers 1:03.56
Men’s 100-Yard Breaststroke Final Results
1 Thomas Dahlia Louisville 52.74
2 Addison Bray Louisville 53.67
3 Kameron Chastain Louisville 53.68
4 Nicolai Hansen SMU 54.34
5 Lachez Shumkov UConn 54.56
6 Greg Baliko UConn 56.03
7 Matthew Jameson-Napier SMU 56.16
8 Julian Fletcher SMU 56.19
Women’s 100-Yard Backstroke Final Results
1 Joanna Wu Rutgers 52.97
2 Isabella Arcila SMU 53.80
3 Erica Belcher Louisville 53.87
4 Kenzie Buss Louisville 53.99
5 Krissie Brandenburg Louisville 54.27
6 Kristin Steins Louisville 54.30
7 Christine Pedersen UConn 55.92
8 Taylor Gregory Houston 56.04
Men’s 100-Yard Backstroke Final Results
1 Grigory Tarasevich Louisville 47.23
2 Aaron Young Louisville 47.31
3 Aaron Greene Louisville 48.16
4 Caryle Blondell Louisville 48.01
5 Matas Andriekus SMU 48.43
6 Ryan Koops SMU 49.01
7 Jeff Magin UConn 49.26
8 Joe Scherpenberg Cincinnati 50.57
Men’s 3-Meter Dive Final Results
1 Devin Burnett SMU 389.45
2 Bryce Klein SMU 379.90
3 Hayden Hodges SMU 357.85
4 John Brice UConn 336.80
5 Sean Piner Louisville 317.75
6 Tony Cortright UConn 309.45
7 Parker Meinecke SMU 264.00
8 Sam Blair Louisville 256.10
Women’s 400-Yard Medley Relay Final Results
1 SMU 3:33.21
2 Louisville 3:33.99
3 Rutgers 3:39.84
4 Cincinnati 3:43.13
5 UConn 3:45.15
6 Houston 3:49.37
Men’s 400-Yard Medley Relay Final Results
1 Louisville 3:10.94
2 UConn 3:17.21
3 Cincinnati 3:21.37
4 SMU DQ
