No. 7 Cardinals Kick Off ACC Men's Championships on Wednesday

Wednesday, February 24

Greensboro, N.C.

All Day

University of Louisville

ACC Championships (Men)

Interior shot of the Greensboro Aquatic Center

No. 7 Cardinals Kick Off ACC Men's Championships on Wednesday

February 23, 2021 | Swimming & Diving

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

By: Chandler Brandes

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After the University of Louisville women's swimming and diving team finished third last weekend, the Cardinal men kick off the 2021 ACC Championships on Wednesday, February 24 in Greensboro, N.C.

Held at the Greensboro Aquatic Center, competition is slated to begin on Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m. with timed finals of the 200 medley and 800 freestyle relays. 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 Cardinal divers competed at the Women's ACC Championships last weekend, highlighted by Kivanc Gur posting a score of 371.40 to finish fourth on the platform en route to breaking the school record. Scores from the men's diving events will be added to the final point total this weekend.

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. A narrow victory over conference foe Notre Dame on Jan. 9 came down to the wire as Michael Eastman, Haridi Sameh Kamel, Nicolas Albiero, and Colton Paulson won the final 400 freestyle relay. Mitchell Whyte, Evgenii Somov, and Albiero were double-event winners against the Fighting Irish as Daniel Pinto and Sameh also picked up individual wins.

The Cardinals were back in action on Jan. 15 as they took down Missouri in the first home meet of the season. Louisville claimed both relays and a total of nine individual events, including two apiece from Hayden Curley, Whyte, and Pinto. UofL continued their winning ways on Jan. 23 as they outlasted in-state rival Kentucky in the annual Battle of the Bluegrass. The men swept both relays and multi-event winners included Albiero, Somov, Whyte, and Kamel. To cap off the win, Pinto dove to second on the 3-meter board while breaking his own program record with a score of 402.83.

UofL made it four-for-four in dual meets during the spring semester as they clinched a Senior Day win over Cincinnati on Jan. 30. The Cardinals once again won both relays and produced 14 individual event winners in Ilia Sibertsev, Greyson Alarcon, Nikolaos Sofiandis, Paulson, Curley, Albiero, Somov, and Kamel.

UofL qualified 10 men and four relay swimmers for the 2020 NCAA Championships before the meet was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Cardinals had the most qualifiers in the ACC and ranked top-6 in number of qualifiers in the nation.

Last Year's Championships
Louisville secured a third-place team finish at last year's conference meet. The Cardinals saw 17 A-final appearances, highlighted by five gold, three silver, and two bronze medals in individual events.

Albiero, who was named the ACC Swimmer of the Week three times this season, continued to etch his name in the history books last year. He earned gold in the 100 butterfly after setting a new school and pool record during prelims while also adding bronze in the 100 backstroke. Not only did he win his third-straight 200 butterfly title in school, meet, and pool record-setting fashion, but he also jumped to No. 4 in all-time history of the event.

Albiero wasn't alone in his record-breaking performances as Somov also wrote his name in the all-time record book. In addition to defending his 200 breaststroke crown, he won the 100 breaststroke title for the third-consecutive season to lower the pool record. Somov, who was the ACC Swimmer of the Week on Nov. 24, also finished fourth in the 200 individual medley after earning the top seed during prelims.

Paulson had a breakout season for the Cardinals, getting his first-ever individual ACC medal after winning the 200 freestyle. Whyte also had a standout junior campaign, taking silver in both the 100 and 200 backstroke with times that rank first and second in Louisville history. The conference awarded Whyte Swimmer of the Week accolades on Jan. 19.

In his Cardinal debut, Sameh secured the runner-up spot in the 50 freestyle with a time that ranks fourth all-time in program history while also finishing seventh in the 100 freestyle. Mihalis Deliyiannis and Sofianidis both had an A-final appearance, taking seventh in the 50 freestyle and eighth in the 100 backstroke, respectively. Hayden Curley paced the Cardinals in the distance events, powering to eighth in the mile.

Four of the Cardinals' relays placed in the top-2, including a pair of silver-medal performances in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays. The quartet of Albiero, Paulson, Andrej Barna, and Samuel Steele grabbed gold in the 800 free relay, while Whyte, Somov, Albiero, and Barna won the 400 medley relay to set a new ACC meet record.

NC State won last year's meet with 1250 points to edge runners-up Virginia (1089). Louisville followed with 1066.5 points ahead of Virginia Tech (898), Florida State (812.5), Notre Dame (803.5), North Carolina (630.5), Pitt (520), Georgia Tech (506), Duke (421), Miami (197), and Boston College (134).

Scouting the Competition
Defending champion NC State enters the meet as the top-ranked team, checking in at No. 5 in the most recent CSCAA/TYR poll. Louisville follows two spots behind in No. 7 as last year's runner-up Virginia sits at No. 10.

Six additional ACC teams find themselves in the top-25 heading into this weekend. Virginia Tech checks in at No. 13, Florida State sits at No. 15, Notre Dame comes in at No. 17, North Carolina ranks No. 18, Georgia Tech holds the 22nd ranking, and Pitt rounds out the field at No. 25.

Of the 13 individual races offered at the ACC Championships, seven swimmers representing ACC schools own times that rank in the NCAA's top-6 in seven different events. The highest ranking comes from Virginia's Matt Brownstead at No. 4 in the 100 freestyle and Georgia Tech's Caio Pumputis in the 200 individual medley. Pumputis also ranks No. 6 in the 200 breaststroke while fellow Yellow Jacket Kyle Barone ranks fifth in the 100 backstroke.

Albiero follows behind Barone with the sixth-fastest time in the 100 backstroke and Virginia Tech's Antani Ivanov sits at No. 6 in the 200 butterfly. Wolfpack teammates Ross Dant and Eric Knowles rank sixth and seventh, respectively, in the 500 freestyle, with the latter also checking in at sixth in the mile.

ACC programs boast times that rank in the NCAA's top-3 in all but one of the five relay events on the championship program. The Cavaliers rank second in the 400 freestyle relay while the Wolfpack hold the same ranking in the 800 freestyle relay. The Yellow Jackets rank second on the list in the 400 medley relay and third in the 200 medley relay. The Cardinals highest relay ranking comes from the 200 medley relay, fast enough for No. 6.

Cards in the Record Book
The Cardinals find themselves in the ACC record book twice with both performances coming from last year's championship meet. Albiero's time of 1:38.65 in the 200 butterfly broke the meet record, just shy of the overall conference record of 1:38.57 set by NC State's Andreas Vazaios in 2019.

Louisville's 400 medley relay team of Whyte (44.93), Somov (51.40), Albiero (44.55), and Barna (41.92) set a new meet standard of 3:02.80 last season. The ACC mark stands at 3:01.76 from NC State in 2018.

How to Watch
ACC Network Extra will broadcast finals Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening starting at 7 p.m. Fans can also watch live on WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app.