Louisville Swimming and Diving Sweeps Notre Dame at Home

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

The No. 11/13 University of Louisville swimming and diving teams defeated No. 18/23 Notre Dame on Friday, Nov. 1 at the Ralph Wright Natatorium. The men posted a 168-132 victory over the Fighting Irish while the women took down the ACC rival 162-138.

Team Scores

Men: Louisville – 168, Notre Dame – 132
Women: Louisville – 162, Notre Dame – 138

RESULTS

Louisville Swimming and Diving Press Release

Kyla Alexander (25.97), Mariia Astashkina (27.98), Nastja Govejsek (24.22), and Christiana Regenauer (22.17) came from behind to begin the meet with a win in the 200 medley relay, combining for a time of 1:40.34. Mitchell Whyte (22.61), Evgenii Somov (23.90), Nikos Sofianidis (21.72), and Mihalos Deliyiannis (20.34) also won the opening relay in 1:28.57.

Sophie Cattermole posted a convincing win in the 1650 freestyle en route to achieving an NCAA ‘B’ standard and setting a new pool record. Her time of 16:12.35 broke the previous mark of 16:15.92 set by Villanova’s Hayley Edwards in 2011. Hayden Curley also earned a B cut after placing second in the mile with a time of 15:09.25 and took fourth in the 500 freestyle (4:33.33).

Maria Sumida (1:49.87) and Arina Openysheva (1:49.91) finished second and third, respectively, in the 200 freestyle behind winner Abbie Dolan (1:46.98) of Notre Dame. Colton Paulson was the Cards’ top finisher on the men’s side, taking third in 1:38.38. Sumida later took second in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:52.19.

In the closest race of the day, Mitchell Whyte (48.56) edged out Notre Dame’s Jack Montesi (48.57) by .01 for gold in the 100 backstroke. Ashlyn Schoof powered home to a third-place finish in the women’s 100 backstroke, clocking in at 55.82.

Behind winner Coleen Gillilan (1:00.60) of Notre Dame, Morgan Friesen (1:02.16) took second in the 100 breaststroke while Kaylee Wheeler (1:02.90) was right behind in third. Friesen then secured a two-second victory in the 200 breaststroke in 2:16.45. Evgenii Somov won the men’s 100 breaststroke in 53.97, fast enough for an NCAA ‘B’ cut, and took second in the 200 breaststroke in 2:00.20.

Grace Oglesby led the charge in the 200 butterfly, posting an NCAA ‘B’ standard of 1:57.82 for the win while also taking second in the 100 butterfly (53.95) and 200 individual medley (2:02.76). The men’s 200 butterfly went to Nicolas Albiero, who swam a B-cut worthy time of 1:46.23. Albiero later notched another win in the 100 freestyle with a time of 44.59 while Bartosz Piszczorowicz (45.11) took second. Albiero’s third win of the meet came in the 100 butterfly as
he stopped the clock in 48.08 ahead of Notre Dame’s Zach Smith (48.21).

Mihalis Deliyiannis sprinted to first in the 50 freestyle with a quick 20.59. It was a 1-2 finish for the Cards in the women’s 50 freestyle as Lainey Visscher won in 23.06 followed by Christiana Regenauer (23.21). Visscher then posted a time of 50.45 for the runner-up spot in the 100 freestyle behind Dolan (50.09).

Daniel Pinto dominated the 3-meter board, posting a final score of 393.75 for a new school record. The previous program mark of 364.94 from 2016 was held by Sean Piner. Pinto then lead the Cardinal sweep on the 1-meter, winning in 335.85. Molly Fears won the 1-meter board with a score of 283.73, just ahead of Notre Dame’s Kelly Straub (283.65). Michaela Sliney posted a final score of 321.15 to win the 3-meter board ahead of Fears (315.08).

Annette Schultz was the Cardinals’ top finisher in the women’s 200 backstroke, taking third in 2:00.24. Daniel Sos used a strong back half to post a come-from-behind victory in the 200 backstroke, finishing in 1:46.01 ahead of Montesi (1:46.31). Sos also led the 200 individual medley from start to finish to win in 1:47.83.

Openysheva (50.92), Visscher (50.06), Casey Fanz (50.55), and Regenauer (50.26) won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:21.79, two seconds ahead of the Fighting Irish. Albiero (44.96), Piszczorowicz (44.54), Somov (44.34), and Michael Eastman (44.89) concluded the meet by finishing second in the 400 freestyle relay (2:58.73).

Notre Dame Press Release

After narrowly missing a win in the women’s 200 Medley Relay by .19 seconds and the men’s relay by .59 seconds, the Irish rebounded quickly with four back-to-back wins in early individual events. After junior Lindsay Stone placed second in the women’s 1650 Free with an NCAA B-Cut time of 16:24.72, freshman Jack Hoagland thundered to a big win in the men’s 1650 Free with a 14:56.54 B-Cut time, vaulting him into the Notre Dame record books as the second-best performer in that event in program history, trailing only junior Zach Yeadon. In the same event, freshmen Will Barao (15:13.55) and Luke Thornbrue (15:17.41) earned B-Cut times as well, placing third and fourth, respectively.

Notre Dame swept both 200 Free events, with Dolan immediately following Hoagland’s 1650 Free win with one of her own, emerging victorious with a B-Cut 1:46.98 time. Sadler McKeen added on with a winning time of 1:36.56. Junior Carly Quast rounded out the four-event winning streak with a 54.49 in the women’s 100 Back.

Senior Jack Montesi just missed a win in the men’s 100 Back by .01 seconds to take second, while Gillilan earned her first win of the night in the women’s 100 Breast, clocking in with an NCAA B-Cut time of 1:00.60, a new personal record. Sophomore Luciana Thomas marked down a B-Cut time of 1:59.08 to earn second place in the women’s 200 Fly, while Dolan added her second with of the night in the women’s 100 Free, posting a 50.09.

The Irish women continued their success, with sophomore Bayley Stewart and Quast putting together a one-two punch in the women’s 200 Back, marking down times of 1:58.54 and 1:59.50, respectively.

Sophomore Josh Bottelberghe glided to a win in the men’s 200 Breast with an even 2:00.00, immediately followed by Dolan’s third win of the night, this one coming in the women’s 500 Free with a 4:49.43. Yeadon followed with his first win of the night, posting a B-Cut time of 4:22.61 in the men’s 500 Free. Gillilan marked down her second win Friday with a B-cut 52.84 in the women’s 100 Fly and her third win with yet another B-Cut time of 1:59.36 in the women’s 200 IM.

“Abbie’s and Coleen’s performances continued to bolster our team,” Notre Dame head coach Mike Litzinger offered after the meet, adding that the two contributed six of the Irish women’s eight wins. As a whole, the Notre Dame women won half of the meet’s events, but fell short of the necessary score total.

Closing out the night, the Irish men’s 400 Free Relay team of Yeadon, freshman Cason Wilburn, senior Aaron Schultz and McKeen touched the wall first for a 2:57.67 victory.

In a challenging meet, Litzinger noted the impact of veteran swimmers on the men’s side proving monumental in the squad’s persistence.

“I’m very proud of the leadership that Aaron Schultz, Jack Montesi, Zach Yeadon and Sadler McKeen are showing,” the Irish coach noted. “They kept the men in the meet all evening.”

On the diving end, junior Kelly Straub put together an impressive showing against Louisville’s attack, some of the top talent in the ACC. Straub scored a second-place 283.73 in the women’s 1-meter event, a mere .08 points off Louisville’s Molly Fears. In the women’s 3-meter event, Straub scored a 312.68 to place third in the field. The Irish men worked to keep up with the Cardinal divers, with sophomore David Petrison leading the Irish with a fourth-place finish in the men’s 3-meter (290.70) and a fifth-place finish in the 1-meter (272.18).

“Overall, it was one heck of a meet,” Litzinger explained. “It is a preview of how tough the ACC is.”

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