Cardinal Men Set to Race for Gold at ACC Championships

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – After months of preparation, the ninth-ranked University of Louisville men's swim team dives into championship season on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at the ACC Championships in Greensboro, N.C.

Competition is slated to begin at 4 p.m. on Wednesday evening. Beginning on Thursday, preliminaries will start each morning at 10 a.m. followed by finals at 6 p.m. The top 24 swimmers from the morning session will advance to finals each night.

The men's divers competed last weekend at the Women's ACC Championships, and scores from the diving events will be added to the final scores from the men's meet concluding on Feb. 29. Daniel Pinto finished fifth on the 1-meter board with a score of 323.75 and Kivanc Gur placed eighth on the platform with 298.15 points.

About the Cardinals
Louisville secured a second-place finish at last year's ACC Championships. A trio of Cardinals won a combined three individual titles, led by Nicolas Albiero who won the 200 butterfly in ACC meet record-setting fashion. Albiero also finished second in the 100 backstroke and fourth in the 100 butterfly.

Evgenii Somov was named ACC champion in the 100 breaststroke and was the runner-up in the 200 breaststroke. Bartosz Piszczorowicz earned gold in the 200 freestyle, followed by Zach Harting in second with Colton Paulson taking seventh. Andrej Barna earned silver in the 50 freestyle.

Daniel Sos had a pair of fourth-place finishes in the 200 individual medley and 400 individual medley. Mitchell Whyte swam away with a silver medal in the 200 backstroke while also taking fourth in the 100 backstroke, and Marcelo Acosta was the runner-up in the 1650 freestyle and raced to fourth in the 500 freestyle.

The Cardinals' 800 freestyle relay of Albiero, Harting, Piszczorowicz, and Paulson started the meet off by winning the 800 freestyle relay five seconds ahead of the field. The quartet of Albiero, Barna, Piszczorowicz, and Harting also won the 400 freestyle relay to conclude the meet. Louisville's 200 medley relay and 400 medley relay both earned silver while the 200 freestyle relay grabbed bronze.

Heading into the meet, the Cardinals boast a number of swims that rank among the top-25 nationally. Somov leads the way with the 12th-ranked time in the 100 breaststroke (52.34) while Albiero boasts the No. 14 time in the 200 butterfly (1:42.55). Hayden Curley currently owns the 16-ranked time in the mile (14:52.19) followed closely by Ilia Sibirtsev (14:56.07) at No. 23. Whyte sits in 22nd in the 100 backstroke (46.25) and Sos holds the 19th-fastest time in the 400 individual medley (3:45.17).

NC State won last year's meet with 1,396.5 points ahead of Louisville (1,135.5). Virginia followed with a score of 1,108 followed by Virginia Tech (820.5), Florida State (819), Notre Dame (687), Duke (624), Georgia Tech (550), Pitt (508), North Carolina (388.5), Miami (161), and Boston College (159).

Scouting the Competition
Including No. 9 Louisville, seven ACC programs descend on Greensboro ranked in the final CSCAA/TYR poll. Defending champion NC State enters the meet as the top-ranked team, checking in at No. 5. The Wolfpack earned their fifth-straight ACC title last season.

No. 14 Florida State and No. 15 Virginia will look to improve upon their respective fifth and third place finishes from last year, as will No. 18 Notre Dame and No. 19 Virginia Tech who placed sixth and fourth, respectively, in 2019. North Carolina, who took tenth last season, rounds out the ranked teams at No. 23.

Cards In the Record Book
Two Cardinals have etched their names into the ACC record book. Albiero broke the ACC Championship meet record last season in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:40.70, and Grigory Tarasevich owns the meet record in the 200 backstroke at 1:39.05 set in 2017.

How to Watch
ACC Network Extra will broadcast finals Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening starting at 6 p.m. Fans can also watch live on WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app.

Cardinal Men Set to Race for Gold at ACC Championships

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Players Mentioned

Marcelo Acosta

Nicolas Albiero

Andrej Barna

Hayden Curley

Kivanc Gur

Zach Harting

Colton Paulson

Daniel Pinto

Bartosz Piszczorowicz

Ilia Sibirtsev

Evgenii Somov

Daniel Sos

Grigory Tarasevich

Mitchell Whyte

University of Louisville Athletics