Cardinals Qualify Ten Swimmers and Four Relay Specialists to NCAAs

Wednesday, March 25

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University of Louisville

NCAA Championships (Men)

Cardinals Qualify Ten Swimmers and Four Relay Specialists to NCAAs

March 11, 2020 | Swimming & Diving

Nick Albiero is the top seed in both the 100 and 200 butterfly

By: Nancy Worley

Following their third place finish at the ACC Championships, the University of Louisville men's swimming and diving team qualified 10 individual swimmers and four relay swimmers to the 2020 NCAA Championships, which will be held on March 25-28 at the IU Natatorium at IUPUI in Indianapolis, Ind.

The Cardinals rank in the top six in most qualifiers in the nation and the most in the ACC. They are projected to place in the top ten or better based on paper projections and entry times. UofL is entered in 12 different individual events and all five relays.

Louisville will be led by junior Nick Albiero alongside a solid Cardinal contingent including the ACC Champions Evgenii Somov and Colton Paulson as well as Mitchell Whyte, Haridi Sameh, and Daniel Sos, who were among the top scorers for the Cards.

Albiero already put up the fourth fastest time in history in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:38.65 en route to gold at the ACCs. He is the top seed in 100 fly: along with Maxime Rooney, of Texas with a 44.83 and the top seed in the 200 fly with the 1:38.65.

In the 100 back, Mitchell Whyte (44.64) and Albiero (44.75) both hit new lifetime bests, touching in 44.64 and 44.75. In the 200 free, Louisville's Colton Paulson ignited in the final 50 to touch first in 1:33.77. Somov swept the breast events and was solid on his relay events.

Known for stalwart relay swimming, the Cards qualified for all five relays with four of the five being ranked in the top ten with the 400 Medley Relay clocking in fourth fastest on the psych sheets. The only relay below the top ten for the Cardinals was the 200 medley relay, where UofL put up a 1:22.40 but were disqualified for an early take off. Even with the .08 take off differential, the Cards would still be in the top spot in the country. As it turns out, they used a time from last semester at the Purdue Invitational to qualify and could be the favorite if all goes well.

Invited:
Nick Albiero (100 fly,100 back, 200 fly)
Andrej Barna (100 free)
Hayden Curley (1650 free)
Mihalis Deliyiannis (50 free,
Colton Paulson (200 free,
Haridi Sameh (50 free)
Ilia Sibirtsev (1650 free)
Evgenii Somov (200 IM, 100 breast, 200 breast)
Daniel Sos (200 IM)
Mitchell Whyte (100 back, 200 back)

Relay Alternates
Sam Steele
Michael Eastman
Tanner Cummings
Caleb Duncan

Most Qualifiers: