Louisville
The No. 12/14 University of Louisville men's and women's swimming and diving team had four NCAA A-Cuts in the finals of day two of the UofL Invitational Saturday evening in the Ralph Wright Natatorium.
After two days of competition, No. 12 ranked UofL women lead with 1,409.5 points followed by Ohio 1,010, Illinois State (727), Kenyon College (703.5) and Wright State (486). The No. 14 ranked Uof L men lead with 1,695, followed by Wright State's 992 and Kenyon College's 784.
"We swam with great energy tonight and it was reflected in our results." Coach Arthur Albiero said after the meet. "We swam well across the board. I love the way the team supported each other, creating a championship environment. That is an example of our team pride."
In the women's 200 yard medley relay, the foursome Alina Kendzior (24.83), Andrea Cottrell (26.66), Mallory Comerford (23.26), and Andrea Kneppers (21.90) took first place with a NCAA A-cut time of 1:36.65.
With a NCAA A-cut time of 1:25.26, Grigory Tarasevich (21.84), Carlos Claverie (24.03), Josh Quallen (20.33), and Trevor Carroll (19.06) took first place in the men's 200 yard medley relay.
A 1-2-3 sweep of the women's 400 yard individual medley was led by Rachael Bradford Feldman with a B-cut time of 4:11.53, Marah Pugh with a B-cut time of 4:16.83, and Manuela Sampaio touched with a time of 4:21.12.
Led by Ryan Massey with a B-cut time of 3:50.51, Zach Harting finished second with a time of 3:56.84, and third place went to Jake Schultz with a time of 3:57.16, making it a 1-2-3 sweep for Louisville in the men's 400 yard individual medley.
For the women's 100 yard butterfly, Devon Bibault touched in for third place with a time of 55.65 as the top Cardinal finisher.
It was another 1-2-3 sweep for the Cardinals in the men's 100 yard butterfly with Pedro Coutinho touching first with a B-cut time of 46.62 followed by Josh Quallen (46.97) and David Bolan (47.44) both with B-cut times. Louisville's Zach Harting touched in with a time of 49.52 for fifth place in the final.
In the women's 200 yard freestyle, Mallory Comerford finished with a pool and team record time of 1:44.71. Comerford's time was also a NCAA B-cut time. Andrea Kneppers and Abbie Houck's B-cut times of 1:45.84 and 1:46.18, respectively, as well as Emily Moser's 1:49.80 touch lead to a 1-2-3-4 sweep of the event. Alex Sellers posted a time of 1:51.05 for sixth place.
The Louisville men posted a 1-2-3-4 sweep in the 200 yard freestyle event. Matthias Lindenbauer (1:34.53), Ruben Izarra (1:36.34), and Jonathan Zoucha (1:37:26) all touched for NCAA B-cut times and Max Grodecki posted a 1:38.87 time to round out the top 4. Abel Aulbach (1:39.83) and Nolan Smith (1:40.52) touched to finish seventh and eighth respectively.
Andrea Cottrell had a team, pool, and meet record of 58.67 which posted a NCAA A-cut time, in the women's 100 yard breaststroke. Rachael Bradford Feldman finished second posting a NCAA B-cut time of 1:02.05. Lucy Kramer touched at 1:03.23 and Caitlin Ahern went for 1:03.24 to round out the top 4 of the event. Maggie Patterson also posted a time of 1:04.81 in the event.
In a 1-2-3-4 sweep for Louisville in the men's 100 yard breaststroke, touching first, Carlos Claverie (53.92) and Brennen Berger (55.16) both finished with a NCAA B-cut time. Dexter Thomas (55.54) and Todd Owen (56.09) touched to round out the top four for Louisville in the event.
In the women's 100 yard backstroke, Alina Kendzior touched first as she went for 52.79 posting a pool record time as well as a NCAA B-cut time. Kenzie Buss touched at 54.89 for second place and Ashley LeClair posted a time of 54.91, both were also B-cut times.
In the men's 100 yard backstroke, Aaron Greene posted a NCAA B-cut time of 48.33 to take first place. Nick Hasemann touched second with a time of 48.56, while Christian Garkani went for 49.22 touching fourth and Jacob DeMercurio posted a 49.62 time and touched fifth.
In the women's 800 yard freestyle relay, the foursome of Andrea Kneppers (1:46.95), Mallory Comerford (1:47.05), Abigail Houck (1:47.47), and Alina Kendzior (1:49.41) touched first for Louisville as they also set a meet record.
In the men's 800 yard freestyle relay, the Louisville foursome of Matthias Lindenbauer (1:34.87), Ruben Izarra (1:36.53), Trevor Carroll (1:33.87), and Grigory Tarasevich (1:34.61) took first as they set a meet record and finished with a NCAA A-cut time.
In the women's 1 meter diving, Andrea Acquista finished second and Maddy Ingmire finished third posting scores of 299.45 and 284.75, respectively.
Men's 3 meter diving saw Sean Piner place first posting a score of 339.95 as Daniel Fecteau posted a 333.85 score and a second place finish. Troy Holder added to the placing for Louisville posting a score of 212.70.
Illinois State
The Illinois State swimming and diving team finished its second day at the Louisville Invite Saturday moving up to third place, as the Redbirds competed against Louisville, Ohio, Kenyon and Wright State.
Host Louisville still leads the pack with 1409.5 points. Illinois State ended the day with 727 points, coming in ahead of Kenyon (703.5) and Wright State (486). Ohio remains in second with 1010 points.
Illinois State head swimming coach Scott Cameron was please with his team’s performance Saturday.
“We had some great swims and some season bests today,” said Cameron. “Overall, I’m very pleased with out effort and progress, and I am excited to see that carry over into tomorrow.”
Courtney Taylor and Savannah Rubocki tied for fifth place in the 400-yard individual medley, with a time of 4:26.68. Rachel Holm tied her school record while placing a fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:03.36), while Rachel Root captured her own fifth place finish in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 56.77.
Both Illinois State relay teams that competed Saturday swam to fourth-place finishes. The 200-yard medley relay team, consisting of Root, Katie Breger, Holm and Sarah Thomas, swam a time of 1:44.38, and the 800-yard freestyle relay team, made up of Rubocki, Yvette Kruk, Laura Paskoff, and Kristin Verkler, swam a time of 7:44.05.
Redbird divers competed in the 1-meter diving Saturday, as Kelly Sanks earned 206.60 points, finishing in sixth place, while Kristen Larson finished in seventh place with 170.15 points.
Illinois State head diving coach, Phil Hoffmann said his divers represented Illinois State this weekend.
“Kelly and Kristen both showed great progress on many things we have ben working on in practices to this point, it gives us things to work on moving forward,” said Hoffmann. “They are both well on their way.”
