No. 12 Cardinals Set For ACC Championships on Wednesday

Wednesday, February 17

Greensboro, N.C.

All Day

University of Louisville

ACC Championships (Women)

Interior shot of the Greensboro Aquatic Center

No. 12 Cardinals Set For ACC Championships on Wednesday

February 15, 2021 | Swimming & Diving

Louisville women set to compete at the ACC Championships in Greensboro, N.C.

By: Chandler Brandes

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Following a whirlwind of a year and after months of preparation, the University of Louisville men's and women's swimming and diving team opens the championship season on Wednesday, Feb. 17 at the ACC Championships in Greensboro, N.C.

The No. 12 Cardinal women will compete in both swimming and diving this weekend, while the No. 7 men will participate solely in diving. Also held at the Greensboro Aquatic Center, men's swimming will take place from Feb. 24-27.

Competition is slated to begin on Wednesday morning at 11 a.m. with preliminary action of the men's 3-meter and women's 1-meter. Swimming will commence later that day at 5:15 p.m. and continue through Saturday evening.

Aside from Wednesday, preliminaries will start each morning at 10 a.m. followed by finals at 6 p.m. The top 24 swimmers and the top eight divers from the morning session will advance to finals each night. Scores from the men's diving events will be added to the final scores from the Men's ACC Championships next week.

About the Cardinals
After not competing during the fall semester following an abrupt end to the 2019-20 season, the Cardinals were back in action at the beginning of the new year. In a narrow loss against Notre Dame on Jan. 9 where the Cardinals won both relays, Morgan Friesen, Maria Sumida, Gabi Albiero, and Kaylee Wheeler collected individual wins. Louisville then hosted Missouri on Jan. 15 for a non-scoring meet, and despite being short-handed, won six events and the opening relay.

The Cardinals fell to Kentucky in the annual Battle of the Bluegrass on Jan. 23 as Wheeler and Alena Kraus won the 100 breaststroke and 100 butterfly, respectively. UofL bounced back on Jan. 30 against Cincinnati, besting the Bearcats 165-91 on Senior Day in which the Cardinals won all but one event. Following a double-event victory, Kraus was named ACC Swimmer of the Week on Feb. 2.

UofL qualified 12 women for the 2020 NCAA Championships before the meet was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. This not only tied the program record for most participants, but Louisville also had the third-most qualifiers in the nation.

Last Year's Championships
Louisville secured a third-place team finish at last year's conference meet. The Cardinals saw 18 A-final appearances, highlighted by Grace Oglesby successfully defending her 200 butterfly title. Oglesby also earned bronze in the 100 butterfly.

In her ACC debut, Abby Hay raced to fifth in the 200 individual medley and sixth in the 400 individual medley. Christiana Regenauer also impressed in her first conference meet, sprinting to fifth place in the 50 freestyle.

Casey Fanz led the Cardinal sprint contingent with a bronze-medal swim in the 100 freestyle and a fourth-place showing in the 50 freestyle. Arina Openysheva was the runner-up in the 200 freestyle and posted a pair of additional top-8 finishes.

Kraus raced to fifth and sixth in the 200 butterfly and 200 freestyle, respectively, while Sophie Cattermile powered to sixth in the mile. Mariia Astashkina, Wheeler, and Friesen paved the way for several strong championship final showings in the breaststroke events.

All five of the Cardinals' relays placed in the top-3, including a pair of silver-medal performances in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays. On the boards, Molly Fears had a trio of top-8 finishes, including diving to fourth on the 3-meter board. Daniel Pinto, who was named the ACC Men's Diver of the Week on Jan. 19, led the Cardinal men with a fifth-place finish on the 1-meter board.

Virginia won last year's meet with 1,492.5 points to dethrone NC State who were the runners-up with a score of 1,333. Louisville followed with 1,105.5 points ahead of North Carolina (839), Notre Dame (784), Duke (675.5), Florida State (555), Virginia Tech (469), Georgia Tech (407.5), Pitt (359), Miami (298), and Boston College (164).

Scouting the Competition
Defending champion Virginia enters the meet as the top-ranked team, checking in at No. 2 in the most recent CSCAA/TYR poll. Last year's runner-up NC State follows the Cavaliers with the No. 11 ranking, only one spot ahead of the Cardinals.

A trio of ACC foes rank immediately behind Louisville: North Carolina sits at No. 13, Notre Dame ranks No. 14, and Virginia Tech comes in at No. 15. Duke rounds out the ranked teams at No. 24.

Of the 13 individual races offered at the ACC Championships, three swimmers representing ACC schools own nation-leading times in eight different events. Virginia sophomore Kate Douglass leads the way in five events (50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 100 butterfly, 200 breaststroke, 200 individual medley), while her teammate Paige Madden ranks first in both the 200 and 500 freestyle. NC State's Katharine Berkoff owns the top time in the NCAA so far this season in the 100 backstroke.

ACC programs boast the NCAA's fastest times in all but one of the five relay events on the championship program. The Wolfpack has the fastest time in both the 200 and 800 freestyle relays, while the Cavaliers top the list in the 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay.

Cards in the Record Book
A number of Cardinals have etched their names into the ACC record book. Mallory Comerford owns the ACC meet record and the overall conference mark in the 100 freestyle with times of 46.57 and 46.20, respectively, as well as in the 200 freestyle (1:41.60/1:39.80).

In addition to the pool record set at 49.81, the championship and league record in the 100 butterfly belongs to Kelsi Worrell Dahlia with times of 50.06 and 49.43, respectively. She also owns the overall conference mark in the 200 butterfly at 1:50.61 while the ACC meet record belongs to Oglesby at 1:52.81.

Tanja Kylliainen's 400 individual medley time of 4:03.51 still stands as the overall conference standard while her performance of 4:04.21 remains the meet record. Louisville's 800 freestyle relay team of Cattermole, Comerford, Openysheva, and Rachael Bradford-Feldman set the ACC record three seasons ago at 6:53.75.

How to Watch
The first week of the ACC Swimming & Diving Championships will be streamed on ACC Network Extra, with coverage of both the preliminaries and the finals.The ACC Women's Swimming and Diving and Men's Diving Championships are scheduled for Feb. 17- 20 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Streaming will begin at 11 a.m. each day, with coverage continuing to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, and 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.

ACC Network Extra (ACCNX) is available on the ESPN App to ACC Network authenticated subscribers. For more information on ACCN please visit www.GetACCN.com

ACC Network Extra Schedule
Wednesday, Feb. 17 – 11 a.m.-8 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 18 – 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 19 – 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 20 – 11 am.-10 p.m.

ACC Network Women's Swimming & Diving Recap Show
March 1 – 7:30-9:30 p.m.