Women's Swimming in Seventh After Day 1 at NCAA Championships

Wednesday, March 16

Atlanta, Georgia

6 p.m.

University of Louisville

NCAA Women's Championship

Women's Swimming in Seventh After Day 1 at NCAA Championships

March 16, 2016 | Swimming & Diving

Cards set school record in the 800-free relay.

By: Nancy Worley

The University of Louisville women's swimming and diving team set a record in their first outing at the NCAA Women's Championship this evening at the McAuley Aquatic Center on the campus of Georgia Tech. The Cards are in seventh place after one event.

With just one event contested on the first day of competition, the Cardinals were seventh in the 800-free relay with a team record time of 6:59.58, the first time UofL has dipped below seven minutes. The foursome of Andrea Kneppers (1:45.01), Abigail Houck (1:44.76), Mallory Comerford (1:42.72) and Marah Pugh (1:47.09) put their names in the Cardinal record book. The event was won by Georgia with a 6:51.80.

"Fantastic start for us," said UofL head coach Arthur Albiero. "This is our first time scoring in the 800-free relay and to finish seventh with a school record speaks volumes to the focused preparation this group put together. It wasn't perfect, but that is the nature of the NCAAs. I just love the way we battled as a group."

Tomorrow's slate includes the 200 Free Relay,the 500 free, the 200 IM, the 50 free, the 400 Medley Relay and 1-M Diving and preliminaries begin at 10 a.m.

A total of 322 participants (281 swimmers and 41 divers) will compete in the championships. Swimmers qualified for the championships by meeting the established minimum time for the events in which they entered.

ESPN3.com will stream finals sessions on Friday and Saturday live. Wednesday's evening session, Thursday's sessions, along with the morning sessions on Friday and Saturday, will be streamed live on NCAA.com. Additionally, ESPNU will air a two-hour broadcast via tape delay at 7 p.m. ET, Tuesday, March 29.

Live results can be followed at http://bit.ly/2524O9r. Additionally, fans can watch the action for Wednesday, Thursday and prelims Friday and Saturday at www.atlantaswimming.com/Webcast. Friday and Saturday's finals will be streamed live on ESPN3.

For more information on the event, visit: http://theacc.co/21va153.