Louisville Swimming Wins 23 of 32 Events Against Kentucky

Photo Courtesy: Louisville Athletics

LEXINGTON – The Louisville swimming and diving teams won 23 of the 32 events contested Saturday afternoon to spoil Kentucky’s senior day with a 211-89 win on the men’s side and a slim 155-145 victory in the women’s meet.

Louisville Press Release

The No. 4-ranked University of Louisville men’s swimming and diving team and the No. 19-ranked women swept intrastate rival Kentucky Saturday afternoon at the Lancaster Aquatic Center in Lexington, Ky. The men won 211-89 with the women holding off the Wildcats 155-145.

The Cardinals swept both relays and 27 of 32 events overall. The Wildcats won three of four diving events on their Senior Day.

“We challenged our team to raise their performance level today and they did,” said UofL coach Arthur Albiero. “On the women’s side, we kept competing hard and even though a few key athletes were dealing with illnesses, I am proud of how our women responded. The last relay was great representation of this group of ladies is all about. They came together and performed for each other. The men kept a high level of performances even when the meet outcome was defined.”

UofL was paced by multiple winners Tanja Kyllainen (200 medley relay, 200-fly, 200-back, 200-IM), Andrea Cottrell (200 medley relay, 100-breast, 200-breat, 400 free relay), Caryle Blondell (200 medley relay, 50-free, 100-free, 400 free relay). Trevor Carroll won the 200-free, 500-free and the 400 free relay and Grigory Tarasevich swept both backstroke events.

In the first event of the meet, the Cardinal women took the 200-medley relay in 1:40.08 posted by Tanya Kylliainen (25.88), Andrea Cottrell (28.27), Kelsi Worrell (23.20) and Andrea Kneppers (22.73).

The Cardinal men won their 200-medley relay in when Aaron Greene (23.19), Addison Bray (24.92), Pedro Coutinho (21.25) and Caryle Blondell (19.53) combined for a 1:28.89.

In the grueling women’s 1000-free, UK’s Kendal Casey touched first (10.03.92) with Cardinal freshman Marah Pugh touching second in 10.08.57. In the men’s 1000 free, Wildcat’s Drew Avioti won the men’s race in 9:12.33 with UofL’s Marcelo Acosta touching second in 9:14.57 and Draganosky third in 9:19.61.

In the women’s 200-free, Louisville’s Andrea Kneppers won in 1:49.69, a second ahead of UK’s Abby Myers. Cardinal Abbie Houck is third in 1:51.42 and Rachel Grooms was fourth 1:51.48.

Trevor Carroll won the 200 free in 1:36.14 with Matthias, Lindenbauer touching second in 1:39.01 and Rudy Edelen third in 1:39.49 for the sweep.

In the 100-back, Erica Belcher touches third in 56.17 for the Cards. The Cardinal men went 1-2-3 in 100-back led by Grigory Tarasevich’s 48.83, followed by Aaron Greene’s 49.06, and Aaron Young’s 50.49.

The Cardinals went 1-2 in the women’s 100-breast led by Andrea Cottrell, who won in 1:02.42 and Maggie Patterson was second in 1:03.49. The men went 1-2-3-4 in the 100-breast led by Thomas Dahlia’s 55.76. Carlos Claverie touched in 55.85 and Addison Bray went 56.42, and Todd Owen put up a 57.67. The Cards won the women’s 200 Fly when Tanja Kylliainen boarded a 1:57.12 and Devon Bibault touched third with a 2:02.60. UK Kyle Higgins won the men’s 200-fly in 1:47.92. UL’s Josh Quallen was third in 1:49.75, Joe Brown is fourth in 1:51.77.

In the women’s 50-free, Kelsi Worrell puts up a 22.76, beating UK’s Kristen Wilson by 2 seconds. Alex Sellers was third for the Cardinals with a time of 24.21. For the men, Caryle Blondell won 50-free in 20.22. Rudy Edelen was third in 20.80, MatthiasLindenbauer touched fourth in 21.12. Estefan Albiero was fifth in 21.28.

In diving, UK’s Christa Cabot won the 3-meter diving with a score of315.15. UofL’s Andrea Acquista was second with 291.53. Louisville’s Sean Piner won the 1-meter diving with a 311.70.

Andrea Kneppers was into the wall first in the 100 free in 50.78. Rachel Grooms is second in 51.26 for the top two sweep. In the men’s 100-free, 1-2-3 for UofL with Caryle Blondell winning in 44.35. Rudy Edelen was second in 44.95 and Matthias Lindenbauer was third 45.17.

In the women’s 200 back, Tanya Kylliainen was 2nd in 1:58.77 behind UK’s Danielle Galyer’s 1:57.20. In the men’s event, the Cardinals went 1-2-3 in 200 back led by Grigory Tarasevich is first in 1:46.13. Teammate Nolan Tesone was in hot pursuit for second in 1:46.24 and Greene was 3rd in 1:46.76.

Andrea Cottrell holds off Kentucky with a win in the 200 breast, going 2:16.17. The men swept the top four spots in the 200-breast with a win by Carlos Claverie (2:03.04), followed by Thomas Dahlia’s 2:03.13 and third was taken by Todd Owen (2:04.79). Addison Bray was fourth in 2:08.27.

In the 500-free, Cardinal freshman Marah Pugh touched fourth in 5:01.03. Trevor Carroll ground out a win in the 500 free, outtouching UK’s Isaac Jones with a 4:29.34.

Worrell won the 100 fly in 52.04, two seconds ahead of UK’s Christina Bechtel’s 54.19. Devon Bibault was fourth in 55.04. Josh Quallen pulled out a 48.50 for the win in the men’s 100-fly, with Pedro Coutinho touching second in 58.61. Aaron Young made it a sweep in 48.31.

In 1-meter diving, UK’s Rebecca Hamperian wins, boarding a 314.55. Emily Stalmack was the top Cardinal finisher with a fourth place score of 253.88. Andrea Acquista was fifth with a 251.93. In the men’s 3-meter, Sean Piner was second for the Cards with a 333.98 behind UK’s Levi Lindsey’s 349.58.

Tanja Kylliainen was the only swimmer under two minutes with the winning 200-IM time of 1:58.59, four seconds ahead of UK’s Danielle Galyer’s 2:03.00. Erica Belcher was third with a 2:03.58. UofL’s Nolan Tesone led the men’s 200-IM sweep with a 1:48.92, followed by teammates Carlos Claverie (1:51.78) and Josh Quallen (1:54.03).

The women’s A and B relays took the top two spots in the final event of the day, the 400-free relay. The A-relay team of Andrea Kneppers (50.59), Kelsi Worrell (48.22), Alexandra Sellers (51.28) and Rachel Grooms (50.65) combined for the winning time of 3:20.74. Right behind them was the Cardinals’ B-relay team of Abigail Houck (51.90), Maggie Patterson (51.17), Hannah Magnuson (52.19) and Ashley LeClair (50.18), who posted a 3:25.44 for second and clinch the win.

The men went 1-2 in the 400-Free Relay led by the A-relay of Trevor Carroll (44.48), Caryle Blondell (44.76), Matthias Lindenbauer (45.20) and Thomas Dahlia (45.03) who posted a 2:59.47. The B-team of Aaron Young (46.73), Grigory Tarasevich (45.56), Pedro Coutinho (45.67) and Nick Hasemann (45.92) put up a 3:03.88.

Kentucky Press Release

The Kentucky swimming and diving teams posted nine individual wins in the Senior Day meet vs. Louisville on Saturday in front of a packed crowd at UK’s Lancaster Aquatic Center.

The Kentucky women, ranked No. 31 in the nation, won six events – including two each by Kendal Casey and Danielle Galyer – in a 155-145 loss to No. 13-ranked Louisville. The UK men, ranked No. 36 nationally, got three wins vs. the No. 10-ranked Cardinals, who prevailed the team score 211-89.

“The women fought hard and came up just short against a very good Louisville team,” Kentucky head coach Lars Jorgensen said. “The guys raced hard and are making good progress as a team.

“I also want to talk about the great crowd we had today,” Jorgensen said. “I appreciate everyone who came out and made it such a good environment.”

Diver Christa Cabot celebrated her Senior Day by opening the meet with a win on the 3-meter board. Later in the day, Rebecca Hamperian, Cabot and senior Lindsay Keahey went 1-2-3 from the 1-meter board.

“The seniors were amped up and emotional,” UK diving coach Ted Hautau said. “Christa is a great competitor and has given us a lot of leadership and Lindsay got the best score of her career on Senior Day.”

Sophomore Kendal Casey got the Wildcats’ first victory in the pool in the 1,000-yard freestyle, taking the lead midway through the event and surging to win by more than four seconds at 10:03.92. The 500 free proved to the Cats’ best event of the day as Casey (4:56.31), Kelly Berger and Aubrey Jones swam to the first three spots.

“I was really happy with all of my swims,” Casey said. “The team really came together today, we swam well and swam for each other. We’ve come so far in all aspects, in our swimming, our times, also our teamwork and togetherness.”

The 100 backstroke was a strong event for the Wildcat women. Sophomore Danielle Galyer won with a time of 54.24, followed in second place by teammate Bridgette Alexander. Galyer got a second victory in the 200 backstroke with a winning time of 1:57.20.

“I’m really happy with my times so far this season,” said Galyer, who has begun looking forward to the postseason competition. “I think we’re getting a lot more confident and it’s just going to keep getting better from now until SECs (league championship meet) in February.”

Although attention today was focused on the seniors, Jorgensen sees encouragement for the future in his younger swimmers.

“Our sophomore girls – Danielle was fantastic today and Kendal Casey was very good,” Jorgensen said. “Kendra Crew was a very close second (in the 200 breaststroke).”

The UK men got their first triumph in the 1,000 freestyle. As Kendal Casey did for the women, Drew Aviotti had to come from behind midway through the swim before winning with his season-best clock of 9:12.33. In addition, Kyle Higgins put the Cats in the win column in the 200 butterfly at 1:47.92.

“Aviotti was been relentless, consistently working hard,” Jorgensen said. “Kyle Higgins continues to improve and showed that today in winning the 200.”

The men’s divers also got a victory today as freshman Levi Lindsey notched 349.58 in six efforts from the 3-meter board.

“Levi was really good on the 3-meter, was decisive mentally that he was going to win,” Hautau said.

Kentucky honored 12 athletes on Senior Day, including Christina Bechtel, Christa Cabot, Michael Christian, Brent Dillon, Katrina Keirns, Lindsay Keahey, Blair Kuethe, Abby Myers, Robert Resch, Samantha Shaheen, Derrick Smith and Kristen Wilson.

Kentucky concludes the regular season Friday, Jan. 29, at Cincinnati. The UK swimmers will compete in Cincinnati at 5 p.m. The diving competition will take place in Lexington at the Lancaster Aquatic Center, featuring action on the platform and 3-meter board.

Postseason action begins Feb. 17-21 with the Southeastern Conference Championships at Auburn, Ala.

For complete information on Kentucky Swimming and Diving, go to UKathletics.com/SwimmingDiving. Breaking news, behind-the-scenes updates, photos and more can be found on Twitter at @UKSwimDive and Facebook at Facebook.com/UKSwimDive.

Louisville vs. Kentucky Dual Meet – Results

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