University of Louisville
BIG EAST SWIMMING Championship
Swimming and Diving Sweep BIG EAST Titles
February 19, 2011 | Swimming & Diving
Feb. 19, 2011
Complete Results | Photo Gallery 1 
| Photo Gallery 2
With total of 22 overall wins, the University of Louisville men's and women's swimming and diving teams swept the BIG EAST Championship.
With the win, the U of L women snapped Notre Dame's 14-year reign as champions, the longest conference championship streak of any sport in any league. The U of L men defended their title by defeating runnerup Notre Dame 917 to 713.5 and the rest of 11-team field. The women beat the runnerup Irish 820.5 to 655.
"Our focus was not on breaking the Notre Dame streak, but to swim our very best and to swim to make NCAA cuts and hopefully that would be good enough to win the meet," said U of L head coach Arthur Albiero. "We prepared so that we could come to this meet and be free to fly and be our very best. As a coach, I focus on a little tweak here and there but I couldn't be prouder."
Seton Hall's Kevin Webster was named Men's BIG EAST Swimmer of the Meet as the leading point scorer of the entire meet. Rachael Burnett and Mandie Nugent, both of West Virginia, tied for the women's Swimmer of the Meet. For the third straight year, Arthur Albiero was named men's coach of the year and this year he added Women's Coach of the Year to his growing collection of kudos.
The men executed in a very tough battle to defend and all we wanted to do was our very best and the men were tough across the board. We had some extraordinary performances," said U of L head coach Arthur Albiero. "We wanted to go out with a our guns loaded going into the NCAAs. "
In the grueling 1650-free, U of L's Riley Martin took the lead at the 400-yard mark and then never looked back to defend his title of a year ago with a time of 15:16.70 for the win. Teammate Shane Lichtenberg touched in 15:24.20, good for second and Kevin Bandy was seventh (15:39.29) and Michael Pryor was eighth, going 15:41.92. For the women, Lindsey LaPorte was battling illness, gutting it out to finish 12th at 16:59.12, 32 seconds slower than her qualifying time.
In the women's 200 back, Eszter Povazsay of Louisville pushed the pace but could not catch Notre Dame's Kimberly Holden who hit the wall first with a time of 1:55.18 Povazsay finished second in 1:55.75, an NCAA B-cut. In the men's 200-back, Pedro Oliveira fell back to fifth in the first 100 then made a move up to third in the last turn but could not catch Seton Hall's Kevin Webster (1:43.93 or WVU's Jared Christie-Goldthorpe. Cardinal freshman Juan Lopez finished seventh with a time of 1:47.80.
In the 100-free, U of L's Aileen Cole had a big kick to touch in 49.95 but did not catch winner Kelly Ryan of Notre Dame, who posted the winning time of 49.73. Cardinal Grite Apanaviciute was fourth with time of 50.11. All were NCAA B-cuts. Cardinal Breann McDowell won the consols with a time of 50.41, which would have been fifth had she gained the A-final. Cardinal Lacey Bobo was second in the consols with a time of 51.58. In the men's 100-free, Brendon Andrews muscled his way to the win with a time of 43.45 just outtouching teammate Joao De Lucca, who touched in 43.76. Albert Lloyd was seventh in 45.04 and Samuel Hoekstra was eighth wit ha time of 45.11. In consols, the Cardinals picked up points for Alex Burtch (44.90) and Matt Schlytter (45.77).
In the 200-breast Therese Bergstrom made it a sweep with a 2:11.14 NCAA B cut time holding off two of the best in the conference in Erin Malone of Villanova (2.11.37) and last year's champion and BIG EAST Swimmer of the Meet Samantha Maxwell, who touched in 2:11.79 in a wild finish. In the men's final, Cardinal Carlos Almeida took off fast and increased his lead to half a body length as he cruised into the wall in 1:54.98 for the win, almost two seconds ahead of runnerup Koba Kotynia (1:56.39). U of L's Kenneth Crapse was third (1:57.17) with teammate Michael Haefner in hot pursuit, touching in 1:59.07. Haefner moved up two places after touching sixth in the first split. Kameron Chastain was seventh with a 1:59.90 time. All were NCAA B-cut times.
"Carlos performed phenomenally today," said Albiero. "He didn't swim his best yesterday but came back today with a great time and that speaks volumes about his talent and his poise."
In the 200-fly, WVU's Amanda Nugent set a new BIG EAST record with a swim of 1:57.00 and the conference crown. U of L's Raine Thompson hung on for second with a time of 1:58.47. Jackie Sherrard was seventh with a time of 2:03.77 and Sarah Andrews was eighth with a time of 2:04.95.
For the men, Pedro Oliveira led in the first split but was caught by Pitt's Hermanus Kluever in the second split but wrested the lead back in the final 100, touching the wall in 1:45.23. Kluever was second in 1:46.72. U of L's Riley Martin was last after the first 50 yards but surged to fourth in the last 100 and then overtook teammate Juan Lopez for third in 1:47.45. Lopez was fourth in 1:48.01. Tim Collins went 1:50.48. In the consols, Kevin Bandy posted a time of 1:51.63.
In the final 400-free relay, the foursome of Aileen Cole, Breann McDowell, Krissie Brandenburg and Grite Apanaviciute touched second with a time of 3:19.91 behind Notre Dame's 3:19.65.
In the men's 400-free relay, the men set a BIG EAST record with a 2:54.04. Brendon Andrews was the leadoff leg wit ha 43.17 split, Joao De Lucca posted a 43.36 split and handed a half a body length to Albert Lloyd who went 43.95 before Alex Burtch anchored with a split of of 43.55 for the win and the record.
