Cards Split with Auburn on First of Two Day Meet

Friday, October 6

LOUISVILLE, KY

5:30

University of Louisville

Auburn University

October 06, 2023 | Swimming & Diving

By: Nancy Worley

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The University of Louisville women's swim team leads Auburn 90-77 and the Cardinal men's team trails 103-64 after the first day of racing at the two-day meet Friday Night at the Ralph Wright Natatorium.

In all, 20 events were contested on Friday between the teams. Both teams were missing key point scorers as eight athletes from each team were competing at the SMU Classic in Dallas. Competition continues on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. Louisville women's highlights included a pair of wins by both Paige Kuwata, Julia Dennis and Fernanda Celidonio.

Auburn won the first race of the meet, posting the 400 Medley Relay time of 3:37.30. The Cardinal foursome of Ally Boynton (55.27), Cecilia Viberg (1:01.67), Karoline Barrett (52.97) and Lucy Mehrabahn (48.41) combined to finish with the second place time of 3:38.32.

Auburn won the men's 400 medley relay as well, posting the winning time of 3:12.70. The Louisville men's relay of Kasper Johnsen (48.69), Grant Gooding (54.26), Aidan Paro (48.15) and Caleb Duncan (43.81) to finish second in 3:14.91.

Jordan Durocher (4:17.53) and Paige Kuwata (4:19.20) made it a 1-2 sweep of the 400 IM for the Cardinals. Freshman Zoe Vogelmann picked up fourth place points with a 4:21.34. On the men's side, Auburn's Harrison Ranier took top honors with a time of 3:52.15 to edge a hard-charging Tyler Watson, who touched second with a time of 3:52.71. Ilia Sibirtsev was sixth with a 4:01.90.

Fernanda Celidonio put up a B-cut time of 1:46.64 in the women's 200 free for the Cardinals. UofL teammates Lucy Mehraban was third in 1:47.23 and Summer Cardwell was fourth in 1:48.19. Auburn's Michael Bonson won the men's 200 free with a time of 1:35.99. Louisville Kayden Lancaster was the top Cards with the third place time of 1:37.71.

In the 50 freestyle, Julia Dennis put up an NCAA B-cut time of 22.26. Bianca Costea was fifth with a time of 23.44. Caleb Duncan won the men's 50 free with a 20.10. Vlad Dubinin was third, clocking in at 20:34.

In the 1000 freestyle, Louisville's Paige Kuwata touched first with a time of 9:59.97, the only swimmer under 10 minutes. Maddie Luther was third in 10:03.01 for UofL. Ilia Sibirtsev dueled teammate Tyler Watson down the stretch of the men's 1000 free, with Sibirtsev touching in 9:00.65 and Watson in 9:00.76 for the Cards.

Karoline Barrett won the 100 butterfly for the Cardinals, turning in the winning time of 53.71. UofL's Summer Cardwell scored with a time of 55.76. The men's event was won by Auburn's Sohib Khaled, who went 47.66. Charlie Crush was second as the top Cardinal finisher, going 48.02. Louisville's Aidan Paro was fifth with a time of 48.49.

Auburn's Jade Castro won the 100 backstroke with a time of 53.95. Ally Boynton was fourth as the top Cardinal with a time of 55.16. Andrew Simmons of Auburn was the winner in the men's 100 back with a time of 48.65. Kasper Johnsen was second for the Cards with a time of 48.73. Drew Collins was fourth in 49.75.

In the women's 100 breaststroke, Fernanda Celidonio picked up her second win of the night with the winning time of 1:01.59. Cecilia Viberg was fourth with a 1:02.93. Auburn won the men's 100 breaststroke when Alejandro Flores turned in a 54.98. Louisville's Luke Shourds was second in 55.11 and Aidan Kreiley was right behind Shourds, touching third in 55.20 and Grant Gooding was fourth in 55.47.

In the 400 free relay, Louisville's Lucy Mehraban (48.92), Julia Dennis (48.70), Karoline Bennett (49.32) and Bianca Costea (49.99) went 3:16.93. In the men's 400 free relay, the Louisville foursome of Caleb Duncan (44.92), Vlad Dubinin (43.78), Kayden Lancaster (44.56) and Kasper Johnsen (45.30) were second with a time of 2:58.56.