University of Louisville
NOTRE DAME
Men's Swim/Dive Take Down Rival Notre Dame
January 24, 2014 | Swimming & Diving
Jan. 24, 2014
Complete Results | Photo Gallery 
The University of Louisville men's swimming and diving team won all but four events to beat rival Notre Dame 186-114 in a dual meet Friday evening at the Ralph Wright Natatorium.
"I am proud of the way we raced today," said U of L head coach Arthur Albiero. "It was a good emotional component across the board to keep fighting. We knew it was going to be a close meet. When you look at the score, it is awfully deceiving. There were a lot of close races that we were able to win. I want to give a shout out to diver Sean Piner, who really stepped up to win the 1-meter diving. That was a definitely a huge move for him. Across the board, the guys did a really good job of stepping up. The challenge was not for the same guys to carry us but for the new guys to step up and a number of them did."
The Cardinals had multiple event winners in Kameron Chastain, who won both breaststroke events and the 200-medley relay as well as Joao De Lucca, who won the 100- and 200-free and was part of the wining 400-free relay. Bryan Draganosky won the 500- and 1000-free to sweep the distance events. Caryle Blondell won the 50-free and was on both winning relay squads.
Louisville A 200-medley relay team of Evan Noble (23.29), Kameron Chastain (24.20), Pedro Coutinho 21.78 with Caryle Blondell's anchor of 19.38 won the first event of the meet. The Cards led wire to wire to post a 1:28.65.
In the grueling 1000, Bryan Draganosky had a half a pool length lead at the halfway point and cruised to the win in 9:17.82. After attacking his last turn, freshman Jake Schultz chased down Notre Dame's Brennan Jacobsen for seond, posting a time of 9:22.64 winning by three one-hundreths of a second.
In Joao De Lucca's signature event, the senior led the entire race to post a 1:36.96 in the 200-free for the win and a B-cut a full four seconds ahead of Notre Dame's Kevin Hughes runner up time of 1:40.12. Cardinal Matthias Lindenbauer was a close third in 1:40.33 with Trevor Carroll in hot pursuit at 1:40.68.
In the 100-back, U of L's Evan Noble posted the winning time of 49.69 just out-touching ND's Bogac Ayhan's 49.99. Aaron Greene is third in 50.17.
In the 100-breast, Kameron Chastain had a B-cut time of 54.16 to win the event. Notre Dame took the next three spots led by Zach Stephen's runner up time of 55.35, also a B-cut time.
In the 200-fly, Notre Dame's John Williamson held off Cardinal Juan Lopez for a B-cut time of 1:47.62. Lopez went 1:49.41 and freshman Josh Quallen scooted into third in 1:50.20.
In a blazing finish to the 50-free, Caryle Blondell held off teammate Joao De Lucca (20.20) and Notre Dame star Frank Dyer(20.43) to post the winning time of 19.96, an NCAA B-cut.
"Caryle Blondell was a rocket today. He dropped some times that we were addressing," said Albiero. "I would name him swimmer of the meet."
Sean Piner took the 1-meter springboard with a score of 308.17, beating out Notre Dame's Michael Kreft's 299.77.
"I think the biggest thing about Sean's performance tonight was his consistency," said diving coach Mike Zehnder. "He dove well tonight. We discussed in the past his new scores to be sevens or above. He was used to five and a halfs and was content. But the way he rips entries, he has to try to get sevens on every dive. He did that tonight and for the most part it worked and it paid off for him."
In the 100-free, De Lucca went 43.57 for an NCAA B-cut just ahead of teammate Caryle Blondell edged Dyer's 45.46 with a 43.61, also a B-cut.
In the 200-back Nolan Tesone won with a 1:47.10 with Aaron Green making a 1-2 sweep. Jimmy McEldrew was third for Notre Dame with a 1:49.36.
In the 200-breast, Kameron Chastain dueled Notre Dame's Zach Stephens down the stretch and hit the wall in an NCAA B-cut time of 1:58.95. Stephen's went 1:59.08 and teammate Cameron Miller was third in 20.03.19. U of L's Addison Bray was fourth in 2:03.46.
In the 500-free, Bryan Draganosky held on for the win with a last second surge for the win in 4:34.32. ND's Kevin Hughes went 4:34.54 for second and Cardinal freshman Jake Schultz took third in 4:34.65.
In the 100-fly, Frank Dyer touched first in 49.3, with teammate John Williamson touching second in 49.14 with Cardinal Pedro Coutinho's hitting third in 49.20.
In the 200-IM, Nolan Tesone was first after the backstroke leg but ND's Zach Stephens caught him during the breaststroke leg and held him off for the win in 1:49.26. Tesone posted a time of 1:50.03 for second. Evan Noble was third in 1:51.40.
In the three-meter spring board, Sean Piner was second with a score of 342.45. Notre Dame's Nick Nemetz poste.d a score of 349.35.
In the final event, the 400-free relay team of Thomas Dahlia (46.02), Caryle Blondell (43.04), Joao De Lucca (44.41) and Trevor Carroll (46.86) went 3.00.33 for the win. The Louisville B relay team of Matthias Lindenbauer (46.49), Mihael Vukic (45.17) place, Brooks Wilmoth (45.77) and Rudy Edelen (45.57) was second with a time of 3:03.33.
"There has been a good rivalry for many years," said Albiero. "They dominated the Big East for so long. We came in and upset the apple cart. To their credit, they rebounded and got better and we got better. The rivalry is a healthy one that makes both of us better. We appreciate that."
Both the men's and women's swimming and diving teams will be right back in action when they take on in-state rival Kentucky at 1 p.m. on Saturday in the Ralph Wright Natatorium. The 1-meter diving will start at 11:45.
