Louisville Women Take 4 Top Seeds on Day 3 of ACC Championships

• Wednesday, February 17 – Saturday, February 20
• Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greenboro, NC (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Virginia (8x) (results)
• Psych sheets
• Live results
• Live Video (if available)
• Championship Central
• Fan Guide

Day 3 at the 2016 ACC Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships were electric for the Louisville Cardinals, who earned the top qualifier through in each of the day’s first 4 events, including one in the 100 fly from superstar Kelsi Worrell. While that performance will give the team a big lift heading toward the NCAA Championships, it won’t be quite enough to pull them closer to the scoring-leaders from Virginia, who continued to overwhelm their competition with depth on Friday.

Women’s 400 IM – Prelims

A-Finalists

1. Rachael Bradford-Feldman, Louisville – 4:08.87
2. Kaitlyn Jones, Virginia – 4:09.62
3. Hannah Moore, NC State – 4:10.55
4. Annie Harrison, North Carolina – 4:11.72
5. Klaudia Nazieblo, Virginia Tech – 4:12.00
6. Emma Nunn, North Carolina – 4:12.33
7. Fiona Donnelly, Virginia Tech – 4:14.22
8. Haley Durmer, Virginia – 4:14.24

The Louisville women over the past few seasons have exploded into the national conciousness thanks to all-time best performances at the NCAA Championships, American Records, and joining one of the “big 5” conferences: the ACC. Their reputation as an IM program, however, should rightfully extend back well before that.

The Cardinals just graduated Tanja Kylliainen, who was a perfect 4-for-4 in the 400 IM at conference championship meets during her college career, but the tradition started long before her time. Counting back through Anna Dishuck, Sarah Andrews, Leslie van Winkle, and Amanda Taylor, the Louisville program has had a conference champion every year since 2004 – a streak that spans 3 different conferences.

After freshman Rachel Bradford-Feldman placed 4th in the 200 IM, she’s put herself in position to keep that streak alive in the 400 IM after earning the top qualification to finals with a 4:08.87 in the preliminary rounds.

To take the win, however, she’ll have to fight off Virginia junior Kaitlyn Jones (4:09.62), who was the runner-up last season, and NC State sophomore Hannah Moore (4:10.55), who is atransfer from Michigan and already knocked 12 seconds off her season-best in prelims. Jones entered the semester on an injury, but has looked strong upon her return to competition including a silver medal already in the 200 IM. She hasn’t yet matched her season-bests at this meet, however, so a repeated 4:08 projects to be good enough for the win in finals.

Women’s 100 fly – Prelims

1. Kelsi Worrell, Louisville – 50.23
2. Hellen Moffitt, North Carolina – 50.67
3. Maggie Gruber, Virginia Tech – 52.14
4. Natalie Labonge, North Carolina State – 52.49
5. Sarah Koucheki, North Carolina – 52.77
6. Angela Algee, Miami – 52.86
7. Leah Goldman, Duke – 52.88
8. Ellen Thomas, Virginia – 52.96

The top seed in the women’s 100 fly was no surprise: Louisville senior Kelsi Worrell swam 50.23, which is already just .06 seconds shy of her ACC Meet Record in the event. She’s the fastest 100 butterflier in history, and is the favorite to win, but not far behind her in prelims was UNC junior Hellen Moffitt in 50.67. That swim for Moffitt moves her up to 6th on the all-time rankings in the event, having previously ranked outside of the top 50 (51.98 was her old best).

That will be the battle in finals, as the two were a second-and-a-half clear of the field in prelims. The key for Moffitt will be keeping pace with Worrell in the first 50 yards. Worrell’s opening 50 here was actually two-tenths better than her record-crushing swim at NCAA’s last year, while Moffitt was a touch faster over the last 50.

The NC State women, while only having 1 swimmer in the A-Final of this 100 fly, still have a huge scoring opportunity thanks to 4 swimmers in the B-Final: including the 9th and 10th seeds.

Women’s 200 free – Prelims

1. Mallory Comerford, Louisville – 1:43.91
2. Leah Smith, Virginia – 1:44.61
3. Jessica Hespeler, Virginia Tech – 1:45.05
4. Allyn Hardesty, North Carolina – 1:45.08
5. Megan Moroney, Virginia, 1:45.46
6. Rachel Muller, North Carolina State, 1:45.81
7. Hanne Borgersen, Virginia, 1:45.99
8. Michelle Craddock, North Carolina State, 1:46.11

Louisville freshman Mallory Comerford made headlines at the beginning of the season when she actually beat Kelsi Worrell in a 100 fly early in the season: a broadly insignificant, but specifically encouraging, result.

Since then, she’s blossomed into an incredible and versatile asset for the Louisville team, and looks prepared to take up the torch as the glue of the Louisville team for the next three years: she anchored their winning 200 medley relay in 21.88, she placed 2nd in the 500 free behind the best in the NCAA Leah Smith, and is now the top qualifier through to finals in the 200 free.

Her 1:43.91 in the 200 free is already within two-tenths of a second of Olympian Lauren Perdue’s old ACC Championship Record in the event (that was broken in the relay on Wednesday).

Smith, however, will again be her primary competition in the final – after a 1:43.97 in prelims out of a different heat than Comerford. For reference, Smith’s ACC-title winning time from last season was 1:43.88, but she’s been much faster at this year’s meet in her swims so far – including a 1:43.15 on the 800 free relay leadoff earlier in the meet that is the new Meet Record.

The 3rd qualifier coming into the meet, Virginia’s Megan Moroney, was also safely through to finals with a 1:45.46. In the regular season, she was about the same time as Comerford, and she’s the only other freshman to make the top 8.

Women’s 100 breast – Prelims

1. Andee Cottrell, Louisville – 58.63
2. Laura Simon, Virginia – 59.57
3. Weronika Paluszek, Virginia Tech – 59.97
4. Kayla Brumbaum, North Carolina State – 1:00.11
5. Vivian Tafuta, Virginia – 1:00.90
6. Natalie Pierce, Florida State – 1:00.93
7. Kinga Cichowska, Pitt – 1:01.00
8. Danielle Margheret, Notre Dame – 1:01.05

Louisville junior Andee Cottrell swam a lifetime best in prelims of the women’s 100 breaststroke and moved in to the 20 fastest of all-time with a 58.63 in Friday’s heats.  Once again, though, a Virginia swimmer with a legacy will be chasing her – as will be a theme from finals. UVA’s Laura Simon, who was 2nd at ACC’s last year and the highest-returning finisher, qualified 2nd in 59.57.

Virginia Tech’s Weronika Paluszek (59.97) was also under a minute and NC State’s Kayla Brumbaum (1:00.11) was fast enough to likely secure an individual invite to the NCAA Championships.

Pitt’s Kinga Cichowska qualified 7th in 1:01.00, giving the Panthers their first swimming A-finalist of the meet.

Women’s 100 back – Prelims

1. Courtney Bartholomew, Virginia – 51.15
2. Hellen Moffitt, North Carolina – 51.46
3. Alexia Zevnik, North Carolina State – 52.12
4. Courtney Caldwell, North Carolina State – 52.26
5. Caroline Baldwin, North Carolina – 52.58
6. Sarah Hitchens, North Carolina – 52.89
7. Ashlyn Koletic, North Carolina State – 52.97
8. Ashley Leclair, Louisville – 53.12

One of the best in the country, Courtney Bartholomew snapped Louisville’s morning run in the final swimming event of the session. She posted a 51.15 for top qualification in what is the Cardinals’ weakest discipline, though they still snuck one swimmer, Ashley Leclair, into the A-Final (53.12).

Bartholomew entered this meet having never lost a backstroke race at the ACC Championships: a trend that she’s in a good position to continue in finals as her closest competitor, Hellen Moffitt, will swim this on the back-half of a double in finals.

Still, Moffitt’s two-swim performance was the most impressive of the day – she swam 51.46 in prelims to lead a big North Carolina showing early that will keep them in contention for 2nd-place in the team standings.

North Carolina State’s Alexia Zevnik touched 3rd in 52.12, and had the fastest second 50 of the entire field by four-tenths.