University of Louisville
ACC Championships (Men)
Men's Swimming Powers to Third at ACCs with Four Golds
February 27, 2015 | Swimming & Diving
The University of Louisville men's swimming team jumped into third place after winning three individual golds in addition to running away with the 400-medley relay in the Day 3 finals of the 2015 ACC Men's Swimming and Diving Championships Friday night at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center.
North Carolina State maintained its lead with 896, North Carolina is second with 771.5 with the Cardinals nipping at their heels with a 760.6. Virginia Tech is fourth with 751, followed by Notre Dame (463), Florida State (419), Georgia Tech (408), Virginia (404), Duke (313), Pitt (232), Boston College (144) and Miami (105).
"It was a history changing night," said UofL head coach Arthur Albiero. "As a staff we challenged the guys to just perform with pride and passion. Our seniors are setting the tone. We will enjoy this special night for a bit before we turn our focus to tomorrow's session. We need a frenzy!"
In the first event of the evening, Nolan Tesone won a bronze medal and set a school record in the 400-IM with a time of 3:43.61.
In the next event, Pedro Coutinho won the 100-fly in a school record 45.92 from lane nine. The junior became the first Cardinal male swimmer to win ACC gold. Coutinho sat in third at the 50-yard mark, and overtook Florida State's Connor Knight and Georgia Tech's Andrew Kosic down the stretch to win the title.
"This morning I stumbled a little in the blocks," explained Coutinho. "I was really nervous this morning and I knew that if I get off to a good start tonight, I'd be good. I got it [the start] right and gained the motivation to get going. Towards the 50 mark I turned around and I saw everyone with me so I said `I'm with them, I got this'. Outside smoke, man. They didn't see me! I got them!"
In 100-fly B-final, David Boland posted a time of 47.61 for 15th place.
In the 200 free, Matthias Lindenbauer touched 5th in 1:34.66, Trevor Carroll was 6th in 1:35.20 and Rudy Edelen was 7th in 1:35.38
Thomas Dahlia took the gold in the 100-Breast, posting a time of 52.36. Addison Bray was third in 53.16.
"It's unbelievable," said Dahlia about putting two Cardinals on the podium. "I'm so happy for Addison Bray because he's a senior too. I'm just grateful to be here."
The Cards struck gold for the third time when Grigory Tarasevich hit the wall first in the 100-backstroke in 46.21. Also in the A-final, Aaron Greene touched 6th in 46.82 and Aaron Young was seventh, boarding a 46.94.
"I'm really proud to be a part of team that's in such an important year entering the ACC and ready to make an impact," said Tarasevich. "It's a huge part of history for our program and we'll try to do our best moving forward."
The momentum continued for Louisville in the 400 medley relay, Friday night's finale. Cardinals Grigory Tarasevich (46.21), Thomas Dahlia (51.77), Pedro Coutinho (45.70), and Trevor Carroll (42.38) combined for a pool record time of 3:06.06 and the fourth gold medal for Louisville on the day.
The Cardinals led through all three transitions, but Carroll had to hold off a hard-charging Simonas Bilis, who started the anchor 1.61 seconds back, almost chased down Carroll with a 41.30 split but came up short.
NC State (3:06.59) and North Carolina (3:08.80) finished in second and third, respectively, and all three teams finished with NCAA A cuts.
The final day of the meet will get underway Saturday morning at 10 a.m. with the preliminaries of the 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, and 200 butterfly. The finals of those four events, plus the final heat of 1650 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay final will get started at 6 p.m.
"It's an honor to be part of the ACC and it's a credit to our staff and institution how we put everything together," said Louisville coach Arthur Albiero. "These guys swam their tails off and I'm really proud of my team. We battled today after leaving a few things on the table yesterday. We came back roaring with a great morning and even improved off that, putting together some great swims this evening. We're honored to be a part of the conference and the competition level is just fantastic."
