Cards Win Gold at World University Games

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Competition at the World University Games is underway and the University of Louisville Cardinals are off the blocks including a gold medal today in the swimming venue in Berlin, Germany.

This morning in prelims, Caroline Larsen and Ella Welch were in the Top 16 Qualifiers in the 50-meter butterfly. Larsen qualified fifth with a time of 26.61 and Ella Welch was right behind for sixth, stopping the clock at 26.67. Moving on to the semifinals, Caroline Larsen put up the fastest time with a 26.06 and Ella Welch qualified fifth, with a time of 26.48.

In the men's 100 breaststroke, Louisville's Denis Petrashov, who is representing his native Kyrgyzstan, qualified third with a time of 1:00.63 in prelims and then was fifth in the semi-finals with a time of 1:00.27 to advance to the finals tomorrow.

Larsen and Julia Dennis won gold in the 400 Free Relay with a time of 3:36.21 as Virginia's Maxine Parker led off with a split of 54.28. Next in the water was Caroline Larsen, who split 54.16 and handed off to Dennis, who boarded a 54.01 and Florida's Isabel Ivey brought it home in 53.76 to set a World University Games record by a full second. In the preliminaries Team USA put up the fastest time in the field turning in a time of in 3:37.70 well ahead of runnerup Italy's 3:41.18. Larsen led off the relay with a split of 54.49 before handing it off to fellow Cardinal Julia Dennis, who boarded a split of 54.61. Dennis handed off to Virginia's Leah Hayes, who split in 54.80, and Florida's Isabel Ivey put up a 53.80 on the anchor leg for the win.

In other competition, Louisville's Guy Brooks swam the anchor leg for South Africa's 400 Free Relay team and posted the a split of 48.69. South Africa advanced to the final where their squad turned in a 3:15.70 for fifth place with Guy Brooks anchoring in 47.95.

University of Louisville Athletics

Players Mentioned

Guy Brooks

Julia Dennis

Caroline Larsen

Denis Petrashov

Ella Welch

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