Swimming and Diving Have Strong First Day at Louisville Invitational

Friday, November 18

Louisville, KY

10AM (P); 6PM (F)

University of Louisville

UofL Invitational with Ohio (W), Wright St. (M/W), SIU (M/W)

Louisville Diving Open | Andrea Acquista

Swimming and Diving Have Strong First Day at Louisville Invitational

November 18, 2016 | Swimming & Diving

Day 1 Results Photo Gallery

Cards lead in both the men's and women's scores

By: Nancy Worley

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Louisville men's and women's swimming and diving teams kicked off the first day of the University of Louisville Invitational at the Ralph Wright Natatorium on Friday by recording one NCAA A-cut and 24 NCAA B-cuts. Louisville faced the field of Illinois State University, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, Wright State University, Ohio University, and Florida International University at the three-day event.

"A big goal for this weekend was for us to use it as a big assessment for where we are in the season and that's what we saw today." Head coach Arthur Albiero said after day one's event. "A lot of racing, multiple relays, people swimming a multitude of events, but, ultimately, it's really about for us as a staff to gather information to evaluate our training, and the progressions, and all the things we've done up to this point and kind of look at this as a closing of this cycle of the training before we resume what we call championship season. It's a lot of information. It's a lot of data, but I think it's great. We saw some really good swims today. Really good stuff, especially from a lot of the freshman that are adjusting to a lot of new things. It's a tough meet. It's a three day battle, but it's a great preparation because this is exactly what it's going to be like at championship time – the ACC's and NCAA's – so it's good for us to go through this and learn how to manage the meet."

In the first event of the night, the women's 200 free relay, Louisville's 'A' relay team of Casey Fanz (22.69), Mallory Comerford (21.68), Avery Braunecker (22.57), and Rachel Grooms (22:76) touched first with a time of 1:29.70, which was also a NCAA B-cut. The men followed up with a first place finish in the men's 200 free. The 'A' relay team of Andrej Barna (19.87), David Boland (19.32), Trevor Carroll (19.25), and Grigory Tarasevich (19.51) set a new pool record and NCAA B-cut time of 1:17.95.

In the longest event of the night, the 500 free, Abbie Houck took the crown with a NCAA B-cut time of 4:42.41, with fellow teammate Marah Pugh also swimming for a NCAA B-cut time of 4:44.47 to take third. In the men's event, the Cardinals had three swimmers finish with NCAA B-cut times with Marcelo Acosta (4:16.49) taking first place, Jake Schultz (4:21.49) taking second, and Zach Harting (4:24.00) taking third.

The women took home the top five spots in the 200 IM, with Rachael Bradford-Feldman (1:58.29) placing first with Alina Kendzior (2:00.08) and Alex Sellers (2:00.84) finishing second and third, respectively, while also registering NCAA B-cuts. The men registered four NCAA B-cut times in their event, with Carlos Claverie touching first at 1:45.36. Etay Gurevich (1:45.47), Jonathan Zoucha (1:45.66), and Josh Quallen (1:46.22) rounded out the top four for Louisville.

Fanz touched third in the women's 50 free with a NCAA B-cut time of 22.67. Mark Chernov set a new meet record in the men's 50 free event with a NCAA B-cut time of 19.80. Barna (19.82) in second, Grigory Tarasevich (20.04) in third, and Trevor Carroll (20.09) in fourth each posted a NCAA B-cut time.

In the final event of the day, the 400 medley relay, Louisville's women's 'A' team of Kendzior (53.62), Andee Cottrell (58.26), Houck (53.01), and Comerford (47.54) touched first with a NCAA A-cut time of 3:32.43. In the men's 400 medley relay event, Louisville's 'A' team of Tarasevich (47.23), Claverie (52.30), Quallen (46.33), and Barna (43.20) touched first with a NCAA B-cut time of 3:09.06.

In women's 3 meter diving, Andrea Aquista took first place, finishing with a school record 349.00 points. Michaela Sliney followed in second with 286.85 points. For the men's 1 meter diving event, Daniel Fecteau came in second with 311.15 points and Evan Cooper took third with 309.05 points.

After the first day's events, here are the current standings:

Women's Scores:
1) University of Louisville: 654.0
2) Florida International University: 477.0
3) Ohio University: 275.0
4) Southern Illinois University: 245.0
5) Illinois State University: 158.0
6) Wright State University: 132.0

Men's Scores:
1) University of Louisville: 829.0
2) Southern Illinois University: 398.5
3) Wright State University: 319.5

Day two of the University of Louisville Invitational resumes tomorrow at Ralph Wright Natatorium with prelims beginning at 10:00 a.m. and finals commencing at 6:00 p.m. Admission to the meet is free.