2018 SMU Classic Day 2: Comerford Powers Louisville to the Win

2018 SMU WOMEN’S CLASSIC

• Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center and Barr-McMillion Natatorium, Dallas, Texas
• October 12th-13th, 2018
• Teams: Louisville, Iowa, Miami SMU, USC, Virginia
• Results here and on Meet Mobile
• Day 1 Recap

The Louisville Cardinals had won the SMU Classic as recently as 2015, but had been the runners-up in agonizingly close fashion each of the past two years, losing by one point to Michigan in 2016 and a mere half a point to USC last year.

This year, they made sure it wasn’t nearly as close, taking five events on the second day and securing the victory by a 46 point margin over USC.

The Cardinals started the afternoon by winning the 200 medley with a time of 1:37.38, beating 2nd place USC by over a second.  Both teams’ anchors had nearly identical sub-22 splits, with Louisville’s Casey Fanz going 21.79 and USC’s Marta Ciesla going 21.76.  Virginia took 3rd in 1:40.18.

We’ll have to wait a few months to see if Mallory Comerford ends up swimming the 500 again at NCAAs, but she looked sharp enough today with almost six-second win over UVA’s Paige Madden, 4:40.33 to 4:46.06.  USC’s Maddie Wright finished 3rd in 4:50.38.  Continuing the trend we saw yesterday, the 2nd-fastest time overall belonged to Louisville’s Arina Openysheva out of the consolation final, with a 4:45.07.  Virginia’s Morgan Hill was also faster than the official 3rd place time, as she went 4:47.83 also in that B-final.

Host SMU earned their first win of the meet thanks to Andrea Podmanikova, who won the 200 breast in 2:09.57 after taking 2nd in the 100 breast yesterday.  Louisville’s Mariia Astashkina hung on for 2nd, touching out USC’s Riley Scott 2:10.74 to 2:10.88.

Next up, USC’s Louise Hansson continued to show off her backstroke skills, as the reigning NCAA 100 fly champion completed the backstroke sweep with a time of 1:53.10 in the 200 back.  UVA’s Megan Moroney took 2nd in 1:53.78, and Louisville’s Alina Kendzior placed 3rd in 1:55.10.

The Cavaliers only victory of the weekend came on the boards, as Sydney Dusel took the 3m event in 319.55.  Miami’s Alicia Blagg took 2nd in 313.35, and Iowa’s Jayah Mathews placed 3rd in 305.80.

After the diving break, Comerford competed her sweep of the 100-200-500 freestyles with a 47.57 victory in the 100.  USC’s Ciesla took 2nd in  48.95 as she held off Hill, who touched in 49.19.  Openysheva posted a 48.60 to take the win in the consolation final.

Louisville kept things rolling as Grace Oglesby earned the butterfly sweep with a 1:53.79 in the 200 fly, just a few tenths off her time at last year’s NCAA championships, where she placed 7th.  USC’s Wright, who was also in that A-final, and who won this event at this meet last year, took 2nd tonight in 1:55.32.  UVA’s Julia Menkhaus placed 3rd in 1:57.79, while USC’s Catherine Sanchez was just a hair faster in the B-final, touching in 1:57.64.

In the final individual event, the Trojans’ Riley Scott split 32.61 on the breaststroke leg of the 200 IM to earn her 2nd win of the meet with a time 1:59.52, after taking the 100 breast yesterday.  However, it was Louisville freshman Diana Dunn who posted the fasted overall time, touching in 1:59.46 in the consolation final.  Back in the championship heat, UVA’s Abby Richter scorched a 55.80 front half, but Astashkina was almost two seconds faster on the breaststroke leg, and held on to take 2nd, 2:00.48 to 2:00.72.

The Cardinals didn’t even need to swim the final event, the 200 free relay, to win the meet, but they didn’t let up, winning in 1:28.74.  Comerford led off with a 22.39, Fanz was once again under 22, and Oglesby and Openysheva both split 22-low.  USC placed 2nd in 1:29.34, powered by Ciesla’s 22.17 leadoff, and UVA took 3rd in 1:30.63.

Final Scores

1. Louisville 358
2. USC 312
3. UVA 299
4. Iowa 236.5
5. Miami 227.5
6. SMU 226