Louisville Cardinals Secure 2021 In-State Verbal Commitment from Eli Shoyat

Photo Courtesy: Eli Shoyat Instagram (@eli_shoyat)

NEW COMMIT: The University of Louisville has scored a new verbal commitment for their growing class of 2025 from in-state standout Eli Shoyat of Fort Mitchell, Ky.

He will join Murilo Sartori, Lance Godard, Wylie Kruse, John Bossler, Owen Taylor and Luke Shourds in The Ville at the start of the 2021-22 season.

A talented freestyler, Shoyat does his club swimming with Northern Kentucky Clippers and owns the U.S. Open cut in the 1000 free with three additional Junior National standards. He finished fourth in both the 800m free and 1500m free at Indianapolis Sectionals last spring and registered four top-12 finishes at YMCA LCM Nationals this past summer.

Regarding his commitment, he said:

“I am beyond excited to announce my verbal commitment to continue my academic and athletic career at the University of Louisville. I want to thank my coaches, parents and friends who helped me along the way. GO CARDS!”

A current junior at Beechwood School, Shoyat is a five-time Kentucky State Championship finalist. He earned bronze in the 500 free and took fifth in the 200 free in 2020 while racing to ninth and 11th, respectively, in those events during his sophomore season.

His best times include:

200 free – 1:40.94
500 free – 4:24.60
1000 free – 9:13.75
1650 free – 15:26.40
400 IM – 4:01.02

When he suits up for the Cardinals in the fall of 2021, Shoyat will have one year of overlap with Colton Paulson and Hayden Curley as well as two years with Ilia Sibertsev. Louisville had four swimmers place in the top-20 of the mile at the 2020 ACC Championships.

Under head coach Arthur Albiero, UofL placed third overall at ACCs this past season. Louisville finished a program-high fifth place at NCAAs in 2019, surpassing their previous top finish of ninth in both 2012 and 2018. The Cardinals qualified 10 swimmers for the 2020 NCAA Championships.

If you have a commitment to share, please send a photo and quote via email to hs@swimmingworld.com.

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