Louisville Men Qualify Eight to NCAA Championships

Mitchell Whyte celebrates a silver medal in the 200 backstroke at the ACC Championships.

Photo by: Karl L. Moore

March 13, 2019 | Swimming & Diving

The Cardinals will send eight individual qualifiers, four relay alternates and all five relays to NCAAs.

By: Kylie Klotzbach

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – On the heels of a record-breaking ACC Championships, the University of Louisville men's swimming team qualified eight individuals and four relay swimmers to the 2019 NCAA Championships, which will be held on March 27-30 in Austin, Texas.

The Cardinals tied the program record with their ninth place finish at the 2018 NCAA Championships and will look to improve in the standings at this year's meet with 23 individual swims and all five relays slated to compete.

Nicolas Albiero enters NCAAs after winning the ACC title in the 200 fly for the second straight year, while also setting an ACC Championship record with a time of 1:40.70. The sophomore is seeded in scoring position in all three of his individual events with the No. 5 seed in the 100 back (44.88), No. 6 seed in the 200 fly and No. 11 seed in the 100 fly (45.37).

Fellow sophomore Evgenii Somov also won his second consecutive ACC title in the 100 breast (51.90), where he earned All-American honors with a seventh place showing at last year's NCAA Championships. Somov heads into this year's meet as the No. 12 seed in the 100 breast and No. 14 seed in the 200 breast (1:53.26).

Seniors Zach Harting and Marcelo Acosta will also look to make a splash in their respective individual events. Acosta placed fifth at the 2018 NCAA Championships in the 1650 free and is seeded ninth in the event heading into the competition. Harting will be the ninth-seed in the 200 fly and placed 13th in the event last year.

Freshman Mitchell Whyte is also seeded in scoring position in both backstroke events following a breakout performance at the ACC Championships. He is seeded 11th in the 100 back (45.34) and 16th in the 200 back (1:40.39).

All five of the Cards' relays are currently ranked within the top-16, including four in the top-eight. Louisville's ACC champion 400 free relay enters the meet at the No. 2 seed, just a half second behind top-ranked Texas.

Louisville qualifiers:
Marcelo Acosta (200 Free, 500 Free, 1650 Free)
Nicolas Albiero (100 Back, 200 Back, 200 Fly)
Andrej Barna (50 Free, 100 Free, 200 Free)
Zach Harting (200 Free, 500 Free, 200 Fly)
Bartosz Piszczorowicz (100 Free, 200 Free)
Evgenii Somov (100 Breast, 200 Breast, 200 IM)
Daniel Sos (200 IM, 400 IM, 200 Fly)
Mitchell Whyte (100 Back, 200 Back, 100 Fly)
Relay swimmers: Tanner Cummings, Mihalis Deliyiannis, Nikkos Sofianidis, Colton Paulson