Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick <\/p>\n
GREENSBORO \u2013 The 400-yard medley relays capped off a thrilling night of competition at the USA Swimming nationals with some great battles for the win in both the women\u2019s and men\u2019s events.<\/p>\n
In the women\u2019s medley relay, Michigan and Louisville separated from the pack in the fastest timed-final heat early. Clara Smiddy\u2019s 52.26 gave Michigan a two-second lead after backstroke, and a 59.56 from Louisville\u2019s Andee Cottrell whittled the lead down to a second. Butterfly standout Kelsi Worrell blasted past Zoe Mattingly with a 51.11 split to give Louisville a lead of one second. But Ali DeLoof was not to be outdone, posting a 48.02 on the freestyle leg to catch Louisville\u2019s Andrea Kneppers and give the Wolverines the win with a 3:33.91 to Louisville\u2019s 3:34.35. Michigan beat the NCAA automatic qualifying time, while Louisville missed it by just one tenth of a second. The two teams sit fourth and fifth among college teams so far this season.<\/p>\n
UCLA put up a strong time of 3:36.31 for third. SwimMAC Carolina (3:38.15), UCLA\u2019s B team (3:38.57), SwimMAC\u2019s B team (3:39.37), Lakeside (3:39.94) and Indiana (3:40.20) placed in the top eight.<\/p>\n
The Louisville men continued to show off their strong relay powers, not only winning the 400 medley relay tonight but going 1-2 in the event. With a 46.19 on the backstroke leg from Grigory Tarasevich, Louisville had a body length lead after 100 yards. Thomas Dahlia kept the lead with a 52.42 on breaststroke, and Pedro Coutinho put together a 46.70 butterfly split to hammer home the lead. A 43.21 from Caryle Blondell sealed the deal, and the Cardinals won with a 3:08.52. That\u2019s under the NCAA automatic qualifying time of 3:09.40.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s even more impressive is that Louisville secondary<\/i> team almost got under the automatic qualifying time with a 3:09.55. Unfortunately for Louisville, only one team per school can race at the NCAA championships. Louisville\u2019s A team now has the fastest time in college swimming this season, while the B team is tied with Florida for the No. 2 spot.<\/p>\n
Ohio State University was also strong in the men\u2019s relay, posting a 3:10.04 for third place and fourth in the collegiate standings. Michigan was fourth with a 3:11.26, followed by Indiana (3:13.11), Michigan\u2019s B team (3:13.19), Pittsburgh (3:16.05) and SwimMAC Carolina (3:16.70).<\/p>\n
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