University of Louisville
at BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP
Swimming Sets School Record and 4 NCAA B-Cuts at Day One of BIG EAST Championship
February 17, 2010 | Swimming & Diving
Feb. 17, 2010
The No. 13 ranked Univeristy of Louisville women are sitting in second and the No. 16-ranked men fifth after the first session of the BIG EAST Swimming and Diving Championships Wednesday evening at Trees Pool on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh.
"It was a good start and we are just glad to get the championship started after preparing for so long," said U of L coach Arthur Albiero. We had good swims , set a school record and got a B-cut in every race so far. We prepared for a close meet and we prepared for seven sessions. We have work to do but we are prepared and we can do it.
In the first event of the championship, U of L's women's 800-free relay team touched the wall third with an NCAA B-cut time of 7:20.40. Leslie VanWinkle led off and turned in a split of 1:48.21, good for second. Next in was Anna Dishuck with a split of 1:51.80, but was third behind leader West Virginia, which led wire to wire and Villanova. Sarah Andrews swam the third leg in 1:51.62, holding on to third and then anchor Liz Halet posted a 1:48.77, holding off a surging Pitt team that finished .12 behind her.
In the men's 800-free relay, leadoff swimmer Brendon Andrews had the second fastest split of the race touching first in 1:36.77. Next in the water was Pedro Oliveira who posted a split of 1:38.32, but slipped to second. Freshman Michael Pryor was next with a split of 1:37.74 and held on to second. Anchor Carlos Almeida who posted a split of 1:37.16 pulling away from West Virginia, was out-touched by Notre Dame by .51 of a second. The final time of 6:29.99 was an NCAA B cut, a school record and the fastest time of the season for the Cardinals. The men hope to break the streak that has the winner of the 800-free relay taking the conference championship for the last four years.
In the other event of the day, the 200-medley relay, the women placed second, .63 of a second behind winner Notre Dame. Backstroker Eszter Povazsay led off with a split of 26.14 handed over a second place to Therese Bergstrom for the breaststroke, who put up a split of 27.91, the second fast split of the race. Raine Thompson was the fly leg and turned in a split of 23.69, the fastest fly split of the race. Anchor Whitney Campbell put up a split of 22.20 for the final time of 1:39.44. The time was an NCAA B-Cut time.
The men won the 200-medley relay race with a time of 1:27.06. Leadoff leg Brendon Andrews had the fastest backstroke leg with a 22.30. in the breaststroke Carlos Almeida gave the Cards breathing room with a blazing split of 25.36. Carlos Van Isschot was the fly leg with a split of 20.86 and Kris Findorff anchored with a freestyle split of 19.54. However, Kris Findorff was disqualified for an alleged early take-off, sparking U of L to file a protest.
