Kelsi Worrell’s Sprint Prowess Among Highlights in Louisville’s Sweep of Xavier

Photo Courtesy: Peter Bick

Kelsi Worrell was one of the highlights of the night as Louisville swept Xavier in a pair of dual meets.

Louisville Press Release:

The University of Louisville swimming and diving team overpowered Xavier in their season opener on Friday evening at Ralph Wright Natatorium. The men defeated the Musketeers 179-78 while the women won 173-83.

Coming off a successful 2014 season, the Cardinals opened up the new season in domination as they were victorious in every race of the night.
“We had a good start,” said head coach Arthur Albiero. “We saw some great highlights and one of the biggest things we need to see was how the freshmen were going to respond and we saw great things from a number of them. I think it is exciting.”

Multiple Cardinals won more than one event, pacing the team to the season-opening victory. Trevor Carroll paced the Cardinal men with three wins while Carlos Claverie, Nolan Tesone, and Matthias Lindenbauer both picked up two wins. 2014 National Champion, Kelsi Worrell, picked up two victories along with freshmen Mallory Comerford and Rachael Bradford-Feldman to lead the women.

“It’s a beginning step of a long journey in front of us,” he said. At this time of the year, we are going to be tested so we’re going to break things down and look at film and do the things we need to do to continue to get better. It only gets tougher from here. The women head to SMU next weekend and it will be a great battle there and then we’ll continue on with a couple of great home meets against Cincinnati and Tennessee.”

The Louisville team of Worrell, Lucy Kramer, Hannah Magnuson, and Andrea Kneppers kicked off the season with a first place finish in women’s 200 yard medley relay with a time of 1:43.09 while the men’s 200 medly relay team of Aaron Greene (23.88), David Boland (25.59), Pedro Coutinho (21.31), and Lindenbauer (20.39) took first with a total time of 1:31.17.

In the 1000 free, Marah Pugh picked up a win with a time of 10:09.80. Freshman newcomer, Emily Moser finished second in her first collegiate event with a time of 10:21.47. In the men’s 1000 free, Trevor Carroll took first with a time of 9:23.88 while Jake Schultz finished second with a time of 9:48.63.

In the 200 yard freestyle, Louisville swimmers placed in the top four with newcomer Mallory Comerford taking first place with a B-cut time of 1:47.81. Kneppers took second in 1:50.38 followed by Worrell at 1:52.78 and Rachel Grooms in 1:54.36. Lindenbauer led four Cardinals on the men’s side when he took first with a time of 1:38.49. Grigory Tarasevich finished second at 1:41.63 with Jonathan Zoucha touching third at 1:41.92. Ruben Izarra took fourth in 1:44.44.

Freshman Alina Kendzior picked up her first collegiate victory when she touched first in the 100 backstroke in 56.02. Ashley Leclair took second in 56.55 and Hannah Magnuson touched third in 57.58. Junior Aaron Greene led the men’s 100 backstroke as he finished first in 49.62. Nick Hasemann finished in 51.88 to take second while Max Grodecki finished third in 52.63 and Christian Garkani finished fourth in 52.92.

Andrea Cottrell picked up the victory in the 100 breaststroke with a finish of 1:03.58. Newcomer Rachael Bradford-Feldman finished second in 1:04.49 followed by Kramer in third with a time of 1:05.53 and Manuela Sampaio in 1:05.53 for a fourth place finish. On the men’s side, Carlos Claverie led a trio of Cardinal men when he finished in 56.59 with a time of 56.69. Fellow teammate Brennan Berger finished in second with a time of 58.21 while Todd Owen took third with a time of 58.87.

Abbie Houck led a trio of Cardinal women in the 200 fly when she finished first in 2:03.99. Pugh and Devon Bibault finished second and third with times of 2:04.51 and 2:04.89, respectively. Nolan Tesone led the men in the 200 fly with a first place finish in 1:51.77. Newcomer Zach Harting finished second in 1:52.78 while Josh Quallen took third in 1:53.47 and Coutinho finished fourth in 1:59.25.

Worrell won the 50 free by finishing in 22.92, which was a NCAA B-cut time standard. Kneppers finished second in 23.97 while Alex Sellers finished third in 24.71 and freshman newcomer Grace Long took fourth in 24.83. Carroll picked up another victory, this time in the 50 free, with a finish of 20.75 with Boland taking second in 21.00.

After the break from swimming for diving events, Worrell was victorious once again, this time in the 100 free with a finish in 50.22. Carroll picked up his third win of the night when he finished with a time of 45.39 in the 100 free. Grodecki took second in 46.92 while Garkani took third in 47.25.

In the 200 backstroke, Ashley Leclair took first place with a time of 2:01.57. Kendzior finished second in 2:02.11. On the men’s side, Tarasevich picked up the victory with a finish of 1:47.20. Greene finished in a time of 1:48.02 and Tesone finished right behind in 1:48.08.

Bradford-Feldman picked up her first victory in her collegiate career with a B-cut time of 2:15.11 in the 200 breaststroke. Cottrell swam the event in 2:18.46 while Sampaio finished in 2:20.45. Claverie led the men’s 200 breaststroke field with a finish in 2:01.85. Dexter Thomas finished in 2:05.05 while Owen finished with a time of 2:08.20.

In the 500 free, Comerford picked up her second victory of the night with a time of 4:51.20 while Lindenbauer took the victory on the men’s side with a time of 4:40.34.
Kneppers won the 100 fly with a finish of 56.82 while teammate Devon Bibault finished in 57.30. Coutinho paced the Cardinals in the 100 fly with a finish of 48.74 and Josh Quallen finished in 49.24.

Bradford-Feldman picked up another victory as she won the 200 IM in 2:02.57. Kendzior finished in 2:06.97 followed by Pugh at 2:08.04 and Sampaio in 2:08.18. Nolan Tesone led a plethora of swimmers on the men’s side as he finished in 1:49.95. Claverie finished in 1:53.50 and was followed by Tarasevich at 1:53.83.

In the final events of the night, the team of Comerford, Leclair, Long, and Worrell wrapped up the night with a victory in the 400 freestyle relay in a time of 3:26.07. The team of Lindenbauer, Jacob DeMercurio, Zoucha, and Carroll finished in 3:04.09 on the men’s side.

On the diving side, because Xavier does not field a diving squad, the Cardinals competed in an exhibition. Freshman Daniel Fecteau finished with a score of 317.03 in the 3-meter event while teammate Sean Piner scored 294.30. On the women’s side, junior Andrea Acquista totaled 303.60 points. In the 1-meter event, Piner racked up a score of 323.47 while Acquista totaled 272.62.

The Cardinals, host an alumni meet on Saturday, Oct. 10, return to competitive action next weekend when the women travel to Dallas, Texas to compete in the competitive SMU Classic.

Xavier Press Release:

The Xavier men’s and women’s swim teams traveled to Louisville to face off against one of the strongest swimming programs in the country on Friday afternoon. The Cardinals topped the Musketeers on both the men’s and women’s side, but several Xavier swimmers set personal best times and improved their standings in Xavier records while gauging themselves against some of the toughest competition in the country.

For the women, Mackenna Rife opened the individual events for the Musketeer by taking third in the 1,000 free with a time of 10:36.53. Taylor Jach followed her in, and moved up to eighth in Xavier records, with a time of 10:42.68. Newcomer Jenna Wilkes also entered the XU record books with a top-10 time, finishing in 10:43.98.

In the 200 free, Katie Kerr posted a time of 1:56.02 to set the 15th best time in Xavier records after setting the 17th fastest time last week at Butler.

Paxtyn Drew led the Musketeers with a time of 58.13 in the 100 back, narrowly out-touching freshman Caroline Gaertner. Gaertner’s time of 58.16 not only scored for the Musketeers, but put her at 10th all-time in the Xavier record book.

In the 200 back, Drew again led the Musketeers with a time of 2:06.28. Gaertner finished in 2:08.24, improving her time which stands at 14th best in Xavier records, set last week at Butler.

Freshman Annie Cummins also entered the Xavier record books in the 100 fly, posting a time of 59.46, 16th fastest in Xavier Swimming records.

In the 100 breast, Haley Dresner led the Musketeers in with a time of 1:08.39. Freshman Becca Titterton followed her in with a time of 1:08.69 to enter Xavier records with the 15th fastest time all-time.

In the 200 butterfly, Cummins posted the seventh fastest time in XU history, touching the wall 2:10.26, moving her spot in the school records up from the 14th fastest time she posted at Butler. Maggie Kauffeld followed her in at 2:13.20, the 20th fastest time in XU records.

The final score on the women’s side was 173-83 in favor of Louisville.

On the men’s side, Alex Wolfred posted a strong showing in the 1,000 free to open individual events for the men, taking third with a time of 9:55.72.

Sam Johanns set a top-20 time in the 100 back, touching the wall in 53.83, 0.17 off from his brother Luke Johanns’ 19-best time in Xavier history.

In the 50 yard free Luke Johanns, Xavier’s all-time record holder in the event, nabbed a top-three finish with a time of 21.09. Rodrigo Suriano also scored for the Musketeers, finishing just behind Johanns in 21.19.

The Xavier men closed the meet by finishing the 400 free in a time of 3:06.40. The Musketeer ‘A’ team of Suriano, Matt Nephew, Enrique Hernandez and Luke Johanns were narrowly out-touched by the Cardinals’ ‘A’ team to take the second spot.

The men posted a final score of 78 to Louisville’s score of 179.

The Musketeers return to action on Friday, Oct. 16 when they travel across town to rival Cincinnati to face off with the Bearcats, as well as Cleveland State. Events are scheduled to begin at 5:00 at the Keating Aquatics Center

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