Cardinals Sweep Xavier in Season Opener

Friday, October 4

LOUISVILLE, KY

3:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

Xavier University

Photo by: Karl L. Moore

October 04, 2019 | Swimming & Diving

Uof L v Xavier Results Photo Gallery Photo Gallery

Women win every race, men win 14 of 16 events

By: Chandler Brandes

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The University of Louisville men's and women's swimming and diving teams swept Xavier in the opening meet of the season, marking the third-straight year the Cardinals have won their home opener. The UofL women won 194-62 and the men posted a 177-81 victory over the Musketeers.

"We're glad to get back to racing, and I think we saw a lot of different things," said head coach Arthur Albiero. "It's been a tough week, so it's just part of the progression, and now we continue to work on the little things. It's a good way to get back and it was a great crowd today, so it was fun."

The Cardinals started off the meet with a clean sweep of the women's 200 medley relay with Grace Oglesby (26.45), Mariia Astashkina (28.39), Nastja Govejsek (24.30), Casey Fanz (22.88) winning in 1:42.02. The men also swept the opening relay, as the team of Daniel Sos (23.26), Aaron Parrott (26.63), Nicolas Albeiro (21.28), and Mihalis Deliyiannis (19.91) took the top spot with a combined time of 1:31.08.

Maria Sumida cruised to a 25-second victory in the women's 1000 freestyle, stopping the clock in 10:06.67 for a Cardinal event sweep. Like the women, the Cardinal men also swept the podium in the 1000 as T.C. Smith took over the lead to win in 9:26.93.

Sumida then went on to lead the Cardinal charge in the women's 200 backstroke, clocking in at 2:01.08 ahead of Sofie Underdahl (2:03.03) and Ashlyn Schoof (2:04.30). Schoof raced to first in the women's 100 backstroke with a time of 56.95, not far ahead of teammate Annette Schultz (57.29).

The women's 200 freestyle gave Louisville another 1-2-3 sweep as Arina Openysheva (1:51.12) posted a half-second lead over Diana Dunn (1:51.65). Michael Eastman was the only swimmer in the field under the 1:40-barrier in the 200 freestyle for the men, doing so in a winning time of 1:39.76.

Jack Wever secured a win in the men's 200 backstroke, turning in a time of 1:50.11 ahead of Greyson Alarcon (1:53.81). Wever led another Cardinal sweep in the men's 100 backstroke by finishing first in 49.87, followed closely by Sos (49.95). Sos later won the men's 200 breaststroke, touching the wall in 2:03.41.

Molly Fears dove to first on the women's 1-meter (298.75) and 3-meter (324.20) boards as Michaela Sliney took second on both the 1-meter (280.35) and 3-meter (323.75). Daniel Pinto swept both men's boards after posting a final score of 341.55 on the 1-meter and 375.15 on the 3-meter.

Kaylee Wheeler led yet another Cardinal sweep in the women's 100 breaststroke, getting her hands to the wall first in 1:02.90 ahead of Astashkina (1:03.21) and Morgan Friesen (1:03.54). Friesen later won the women's 200 breaststroke in 2:16.45, edging out Astashkina (2:17.17). Parrott was the top finisher for Louisville in the men's 100 breaststroke, taking second in 57.56 to Xavier's Jon Bernard (57.15).

The women's 200 butterfly went to Alena Kraus with a final time of 2:03.52, edging out Carley Lowe who raced to second in 2:04.09. Neal Morsi (1:55.16) and Chase Sellers (1:55.48) finished second and third, respectively, in the men's 200 butterfly behind winner Brandon Abboud (1:55.04) of Xavier.

Govejsek flew to the top spot in the women's 100 butterfly in 55.46 ahead of Kraus (56.14). Evgenii Somov finished first in the men's 100 butterfly as the only swimmer in the field under 50 seconds with a time of 49.58, over a second ahead of Mitchell Whyte (50.93).

Christiana Regenauer won the women's 50 freestyle in 23.51 in her first meet as a Cardinal, just out-touching Lainey Visscher (23.56) and Avery Braunecker (23.76). Visscher later sprinted to first in the women's 100 freestyle with a final time of 51.53, slightly ahead of runner-up Regenauer (51.56).