Cardinals Complete First Day of IU Invitational

Thursday, November 15

Bloomington, IN

All Day

University of Louisville

Indiana Invite

Molly Fears dives at the ACC Championships.

Photo by: Karl L. Moore

November 15, 2018 | Swimming & Diving

IU Invite Thursday Results

Louisville secured four victories on the first night of competition.

By: Kylie Klotzbach

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Four victories and two NCAA A cuts highlighted the University of Louisville men's and women's swimming and diving team's opening night of competition at the IU Invitational in Bloomington, Ind. on Thursday evening. After 10 events, the Louisville women are in first with 436 points, while the Cardinal men are fourth with 298.5 points.

The Cardinals started off strong as Lainey Visscher (22.99), Mallory Comerford (21.40), Avery Braunecker (22.22) and Casey Fanz (21.85) took second in the 200 free relay with an NCAA A cut time of 1:28.46. On the men's side, Andrej Barna (19.73), Mihalis Deliyiannis (19.69), Nicolas Albiero (19.66) and Matyi Kovacs (19.70) combined to take fourth with a 1:18.78.

In the 500 free, Sophie Cattermole touched second with an NCAA B cut and season-best time of 4:41.97. Arina Openysheva also put up a solid swim to finish second in the B final, racing to a personal best time of 4:43.92.

Marcelo Acosta notched the Cardinals' first victory of the evening, stopping the clock in an NCAA B cut time of 4:17.43 in the 500 free. Zach Harting (4:21.22), Hayden Curley (4:21.81) and T.C. Smith (4:22.86) finished 10th, 11th and 13th respectively and each earned NCAA B cuts in the event.

Two Cardinals competed in the A final of the 200 IM, led by Grace Oglesby, who finished fourth with an NCAA B cut time of 1:57.32. Alina Kendzior was eighth with a 1:59.33, also an NCAA B cut. In the B final, Diana Dunn posted a new personal best and NCAA B cut time of 1:58.78 to finish 11th overall.

Daniel Sos was the Cardinals top finisher in the men's 200 IM, placing 12th with a time of 1:46.85. Jarrett Jones followed just behind in 14th with a 1:47.82.

With five of the eight lanes in the 50 free A final being occupied by Cardinals, Comerford captured the win in an NCAA B cut time of 21.88. Braunecker (22.36), Openysheva (22.44) and Visscher (22.60) finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively and also earned NCAA B cuts. Katie Schorr completed the effort for the Cardinals with an eighth place showing in a time of 22.77. Casey Fanz also earned an NCAA B cut time of 22.38 en route to winning the B final.

Barna was the Cards' top-performer in the men's 50 free with a fifth place finish in an NCAA B cut time of 19.73. Deliyiannis also broke the 20-second barrier, tying for 11th with an NCAA B cut time of 19.94.

Molly Fears (317.85) and Michaela Sliney (303.70) staged a 1-2 finish on the 3-meter and each recorded a pair of NCAA Zone qualifying scores. Anika Holland (244.00) and Brianna Price (240.10) finished sixth and seventh respectively.

Daniel Fecteau was the Cards' top-finisher on the 1-meter, registering an NCAA Zone qualifying score of 322.40 to take third. Daniel Pinto took fifth (299.80), followed by Kivanc Gur (281.40) in eighth and Sean Riley (240.20) in 12th.

The Cardinals 400 medley relay team of Kendzior (52.86), Astashkina (59.81), Oglesby (51.27) and Comerford (46.61) closed out the evening with another NCAA cut time of 3:30.55, surpassing their own nation-leading time. The men's 400 medley relay team of Albiero (46.57), Evgenii Somov (53.25), Harting (45.91) and Barna (42.72) posted a 3:08.45 to finish fourth.

The Cards will be back in action tomorrow at 9 a.m. for the second day of the IU Invitational.