Louisville v. Notre Dame

SOUTH BEND, Indiana, January 18. THE No. 27-ranked University of Louisville men's swimming and diving team upset the No. 24-ranked University of Notre Dame 166-134. The Cardinal women fell 187-113.

"We walked away feeling good because this was a team win," said U of L coach Arthur Albiero. "It is very difficult to go to Notre Dame in their pool and race against a perennial power like them and come away with a win. It made a big statement for this group of men. It is always tough to win on the road but this team seems to be thriving on the challenge of good competition."

The men won 12 of 16 races and the women notched a pair of wins. The women touched first when Leslie Van Winkle won the 200-IM posting a time of 2:05.51 and Nicole Landisch won the 100-fly in 57.10.

"The women did a good job of being prepared but Notre Dame was able to match our efforts," said Albiero. "The final score does not indicate how close we came on several races. It was very close all around."

For the men, multiple event winners included Adam Madarassy, who won the 200-fly and the 100-fly, Andrei Radzionau had firsts in the 200-free and the 50-free and Vali Preda touched first in the 200-breast and the 200-IM for the Cardinals.

The meet started out strong for the men, when Carlos Van Isschot, Vali Preda, Adam Madarassy and Andrei Radzionau posted a time of 1:30.96, one of the season's best times in that event. The women were third in that event.

Shane Lichtenberg took the grueling 1000-free in 9.21.84 in the win. Amanda Henleben was third with a time of 10:34.52. In the 200-free, Leslie Van Winkle ran out of pool as she tried to run down Notre Dame but fell just short for second at 1:50.63. Anna Dishuck, whom Albiero entered in that event in a bit of a lineup change, posted a lifetime best of 1:50.63 for third. Andrei Radzionau won the 200-free in a tightly contested race with a time of 1:39.37.

In the next event, the women placed third, fourth and fifth in the 100-back, led by Whitney Campbell's 58.75. Carlos Van Isschot took first with a time of 50.42 and Andrei Teudean held on for second with a 51.25.

"Carlos was on fire tonight, he had a nice swim in the 100-back and had a great leadoff leg in the relay," said Albiero.

In the 100-breast, Chris Lindauer held off his formidable teammate Vali Preda for the win and to sweep the top two spots. Lindauer touched in 56.71 with Preda in hot pursuit at 56.90. The women took second through fifth led by newcomer Therese Bergstrom's runnerup post. Johanna Nyysti was third, Kristi Eramo fourth and Leigh Smith was fifth to round out the field.

In the 200-fly, Madarassy touched first in 1:49.20 with Rafal Kuchta finishing third but coming from behind to beat one of two Irish swimmers he stalked. Abby Miller was the top women's finisher at fourth.

In the 50-free Nicole Landisch was second in a fast race with a 23.97 time. Anna Dishuck was third at 23.98 and Liz Halet, who is on the mend from a rib injury, was fifth. Andrei Radzionau took the 50-free with a time of 20.95.

In the 100-free, Andrei Radzionau was just out-touched to finish second but newcomer Jordan Wessels surged ahead to third with a time of 46.84.

"We kind of threw Jordan into the fire and he answered the call with a great meet for him," said Albiero.

In the 200-back, Andrei Teudean won with a time of 1:50.77, the best in-season time for the Cardinals. Leslie Van Winkle put up a fight before being out-touched for second with a time of 2:02.43. Nicole Cindric put in a good effort for third in that race as well.

In the 200-breast, Vali Preda smoked the competition with a time of 2:04.37, almost two full seconds ahead of the field. Newcomer Therese Bergstrom was second with a time of 2:19.53, shaving two seconds off her time in this event from a week ago against Cincinnati.

"Vali had a good lead in that race and no one could come close to catching him," said Albiero.

"In the 500-free, Shane Lichtenberg was second, just .04 behind the winner with a time of 4:36.64. For the women, Laura Clark finished fourth.

The women got a win in the 100-fly when Nicole Landisch fought her way to first with a time of 57.10. Adam Madarassy won nicely in 49.94.

Leslie Van Winkle won the 200-IM in 2:05.51 with Therese Bergstrom finishing third and Leigh Smith battling for a fourth place points. Vali Preda won in 1:54.34 and Luke Wakefield was third in 1:56.47 to continue the men's strong finish.

In the 200-free relay, the team of Nicole Landisch, Anna Dishuck, Leslie Van Winkle and Whitney Campbell finished second. The team of Carlos Van Isschot, Chris Lindauer, Jordan Wessels and Adam Madarassy teamed for the win with an in-season best time.

Special thanks to Louisville for contributing this report.

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