{"id":226474,"date":"2016-10-26T11:15:59","date_gmt":"2016-10-26T18:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=226474"},"modified":"2016-10-26T11:16:46","modified_gmt":"2016-10-26T18:16:46","slug":"acc-weekly-preview-busy-louisville-cardinals-head-to-knoxville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/acc-weekly-preview-busy-louisville-cardinals-head-to-knoxville\/","title":{"rendered":"ACC Weekly Preview: Busy Louisville Cardinals Head to Knoxville"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been a busy October for the Louisville Cardinals, and for nine of their women, this weekend will be a fourth straight competing. The Cardinals will be making the trek down to Knoxville Wednesday evening for a Thursday matinee against the Volunteers.<\/p>\n

Meet of the Week: Louisville at Tennessee, Thurs. 2 p.m.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Louisville has already competed in a two-day “tripleheader” at Michigan, sent nine women to the SMU classic in Dallas and hosted Xavier. Now,\u00a0Matt Kredich’s<\/strong> squads figure to be big tests for the both the Louisville women and men in both talent and depth. Good thing, then, that Louisville head coach\u00a0Arthur Albiero\u00a0<\/strong>values the opportunity to race tough competition a key element in long-term improvement.<\/p>\n

“It is good to get a bunch of racing in, give us an assessment of where we are early on, give us some real things to work on,” Albiero said. “For me, there\u2019s nothing we can do in practice that really mimics racing. We can try to get up on the blocks, but there\u2019s something to be said about people in the stands and the scoreboard in full function and a little bit different excitement in the air.”<\/p>\n

The Louisville men finished four spots and 23.5 points behind Tennessee at last season’s NCAA championships, and backstroker\u00a0Grigory Tarasevich<\/strong>, breaststroker\u00a0Carlos Claverie<\/strong> and freestylers\u00a0Trevor Carroll\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Matias Lindenbauer<\/strong> figure to lead a strong group of upperclassmen into this season.<\/p>\n

The Louisville women lose the top swimmer in program history, Olympic gold medalist\u00a0Kelsi Worrell<\/strong>, but the team is still off to a hot start, led by sophomore\u00a0Mallory Comerford<\/strong>. Comerford opened eyes at the NCAA championships a year ago when she finished second in the 200 free\u2014ahead of the likes of\u00a0Lia Neal<\/strong> and\u00a0Leah Smith<\/strong>. Comerford’s times from the SMU classic rank her second in the 50 free so far this year (22.32), first in the 100 free (47.89), second in the 200 free (1:43.13) and third in the 500 free (4:37.64).<\/p>\n

“She\u2019s done a really good job of being consistent since she got here,” Albiero said of Comerford. “Being around people like Andrea Cottrell<\/strong> and Kelsi Worrell and\u00a0Tanja\u00a0<\/strong>[Kyllianien<\/strong>],\u00a0people that really had the experience, [Comerford] was a sponge and really learned from those guys and was not afraid to stay after and ask questions and come early, whatever it took. I think that\u2019s what you see. She embodies the humble and hungry approach. Kelsi Worrell is the epitome of that, and I think Mallory is following right in those footsteps.”<\/p>\n

Worrell’s graduation will hurt the Cardinal program in the points tally, but with Comerford and Cottrell providing veteran presence and freshmen\u00a0Casey Fanz<\/strong> and\u00a0Grace Oglesby<\/strong> already making an impact, this team remains a force nationally.<\/p>\n

Northwestern, Duke & NC State<\/strong><\/p>\n

Northwestern’s men will head down to the Triangle Area this weekend. The Wildcats will take on NC State Friday at 5 p.m. and then head up I-40 to Durham to face the Duke men Saturday at 11 a.m. At the same time, the Duke\u00a0women will be welcoming the NC State women in what is the Blue Devils’ home debut.<\/p>\n

NC State made its debut against Wisconsin in a two-day dual last weekend and absolutely dominated. The men, returning their entire core outside of Simonas Bilis<\/strong>,\u00a0won 224-121. It should be even less of a contest against Northwestern, but we figure to really learn what this team is made of next weekend, when\u00a0Ryan Held<\/strong>,\u00a0Soren Dahl<\/strong> and company head to Austin to take on Texas.<\/p>\n

NC State’s women beat the Badgers 200-149 but figure to get a test out of Duke, who swept Virginia Tech, West Virginia and William & Mary in a triple dual last week. Freshman\u00a0Alyssa Marsh<\/strong> looks like an instant contributor after picking up three second-place finishes in Christiansburg and already figuring heavily into relay action.<\/p>\n

Duke’s men’s program does not have the breakout potential of the women’s team, but there are several quality pieces that will make an impact in the ACC this season. Senior breaststrokers\u00a0Peter Kropp<\/strong>,\u00a0Dylan Payne<\/strong> and\u00a0Michael Seaberg<\/strong>\u00a0all swam well in Christiansburg, as did second-year sprinter\u00a0Yusuke Legard<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Miami, Rutgers & Purdue at Notre Dame<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Fighting Irish swept Georgia Tech last weekend in Atlanta, with the women dominating and the men taking the meet in come-from-behind action. Now, Notre Dame is back home to host ACC rival Miami (women plus men’s diving) as well as a pair of Big-10 foes. Read more about this showdown as our Big-Ten Meet of the Week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Buffalo at Pittsburgh<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Panthers could not keep up when they traveled to Virginia last weekend but figure to have a smoother path to victory when hosting Buffalo at 4 p.m. Friday.<\/p>\n

Other meets:<\/strong><\/p>\n