No. 7/17 Cardinals Head to Kentucky for Battle of the Bluegrass

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The No. 17/7 ranked University of Louisville men's and women's swimming and diving head to Lexington on Saturday, Jan. 21 for a meet with rival No. NR/20 Kentucky at 1 p.m. in the Lancaster Aquatic Center.

Platform Diving only will take place on Friday, Jan. 20 at 4 p.m. the doors will open to spectators at 2:30 p.m. at Lancaster.

The University of Louisville women's team sits at No. 7 in the CSCAA Rankings and the men are No. 17 as of Monday. The No. 7-ranked Louisville women have put up 25 Top 50 swims with five Top 10 performances. All five of the women's relays are nationally ranked with four of the five placing in the top 7 in the nation. In particular, the 200 Free Relay and the 200 Medley Relay are both ranked No. 4 in the country.

Gabi Albiero is ranked sixth in the 100 free, eighth in the 100 fly and is 13^th in the 50 freestyle. Christiana Regenauer is tenth in both the 100 fly and the 50 free as well as being 13^th in the 100 freestyle. Look for distance specialist Liberty Williams to be a major point producer as she is ranked seventh in the 500 free, 11^th in the 1650 free, and 24^th in the 1000.

The No. 18-ranked men's team has put up 11 top 50 performances so far this season. Abdelrahman El-Araby will be a factor in the sprint events with his national rankings in both the 50 and 100 free. Distance specialist Ilia Sibirtsev holds rankings in the 500, 1000, and 1650 freestyles. Denis Loktev in the 200 free and Denis Petrashov in the 100 breast have put up nationally ranked times and been reliable point producers for the Cardinals. The men are nationally ranked in three relays: the 400 free relay (24^th), the 800 free relay (27^th) and the 200 medley relay (14^th).

The Wildcats have been idle since Dec. 19 when they split with No. 9/10 Georgia in Lexington as the UK women defeated the Bulldogs in a dual meet for the first time in program history, 166-134. The men were defeated 185-108, despite a sweep by Sam Duncan in the diving events.

Kentucky's women entered today's meet with an 0-15 record all-time against UGA but were able to knockoff the No. 9 ranked Georgia squad, winning a total of nine events as a team. Fifth-year Izzy Gati led the way for the Cats with 27 points, winning the 200 freestyle, 200 fly and 500 freestyle on the day. Senior Caitlin Brooks pitched in 22 points of her own, claiming first in the women's 100 backstroke and 100 fly, while also placing second in the 200 back. Freshman Lydia Hanlon edged her teammate for the win in the 200 backstroke, swimming a personal best time of 1:55.49.n

No. 7/17 Cardinals Head to Kentucky for Battle of the Bluegrass

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Gabi Albiero

Denis Loktev

Denis Petrashov

Christiana Regenauer

Ilia Sibirtsev

Liberty Williams

University of Louisville Athletics