The Louisville Cardinals celebrated a historic 2016-17 season, which saw 24 school records fall, at their annual banquet. Among this year’s award recipients was NCAA champion Mallory Comerford, who put on a stunning performance at the NCAA championships to tie Katie Ledecky for the 200 free title. Comerford recieved multiple awards, including the Igniting Performance Award, Most Memorable Performance Award, and the Rick Hill Award.
All-Americans Grigory Tarasevich and Marcelo Acosta earned a pair of awards each. Tarasevich took home the Academic Award and the Rick Hill Award. Acosta, on the other hand, was the recipient of the Most Memorable Performance Award and the Igniting Performance Award for his efforts.
Full List of Louisville Swimming & Diving 2016-17 Awards:
- Men’s and Women’s Freshman of the Year: Casey Fanz, Lainey Visscher, Grace Oglesby (three-way tie) and Etay Gurevich
- Ralph Wright Most Memorable Performance Award: Mallory Comerford, Marcelo Acosta
- Academic Awards: Caitlin Ahern, Paige Ezell, Emily Moser, Nolan Smith, Jake Schultz, Grigory Tarasevich
- Cardinal Spirit Award: Alex Sellers, Matthias Lindenbauer
- Underclassmen Unity Award: Alina Kendzior, Andrej Barna
- Joseph Mittel Award: Andrea Cottrell, Trevor Carroll
- Cardinal Relay Award: Women’s 400 medley relay (Comerford, Houck, Kendzior, Cottrell) and men’s 400 medley relay (Tarasevich, Claverie, Quallen, Carroll)
- Most Improved Award: Molly Fears, Christian Garkani
- Coaches Award: Josh Quallen, Abbie Houck
- Rick Hill Award: Mallory Comerford, Grigory Tarasevich
- Cardinal Supporter Award: Dani Klein (Sports Medicine)
- Igniting Performance Award: Mallory Comerford, Marcelo Acosta
- Perseverance Award: Emily Moser, Zach Harting