The Cardinal men and women dominated the Xavier Musketeers 205-64 and 204-56 respectively with multiple Cardinals taking home double wins in the event lineup as they approached numerous NCAA Cuts early in the season.
The Louisville women performed a complete sweep of the 200 Medley Relay, with their A, B, C and D teams finishing ahead of Xavier’s A team. The same could be said for the men’s 200 Medley Relay, with the young A Cardinal team comprised entirely of sophomores out-touching the Cardinal’s C team by one-one-hundredth of a second.
Marah Pugh took home a win to kick off her first dual meet of her collegiate career, with the freshman finishing over 20 seconds ahead (10:00.73) of 2nd place teammate Abby Chin (10:21.11).
Sophomore Andrea Cottrell lead a 1-2-3 Louisville sweep of the 100 Breast (1:03.87), as well as the 200 Breast (2:20.22), with Cottrell getting close to that NCAA B Cut (1:02.49). Junior Devon Bibault also took home matching wins, with first-place finishes in the 100 Fly and 200 Fly (2:03.93). Bibault was followed by two Louisville freshmen in the 200 Fly, with Pugh and Hanna Magnuson touching in 2:04.43 and 2:09.45 respectively.
Junior All-American and previous Big East record-setter Kelsi Worrell took down the NCAA B Cut in the 50 Free (22.88) as well as the 100 Free (49.87) with Louisville teammates following close behind in 2nd and 3rd in both events. Worrell recorded her third first-place finish in the 200 IM (2:03.07) later in the meet.
On the men’s side, senior Cardinal Caryle Blondell took home first-place finishes in the 50 and 100 Free, coming within .5 seconds of the NCAA B Cut for the 50 Free (20.63).
European Junior Champ Grigory Tarasevich proved his Junior Champion Crown, touching first for Louisville in the 100 Back (48.98) and 200 Back (1:46.98) closely approaching NCAA B Cuts in both events. Two-time Junior National Champion and Sophomore teammate Aaron Greene finished second to Tarasevich in both events at 50.03 and 1:48.57.
In the 200 Back for the women, senior Cardinal Tan Kylliainen lead the Louisville sweep with a near NCAA B Cut swim (1:59.78) ahead of teammates Erica Belcher and Magnuson with her second top-three swim of the meet.
With Xavier not fielding a diving team, the Cardinal divers competed as exhibition with Emily Stalmack taking the 3-meter and sophomore Andrea Acquista finishing on top in the 1-meter.
The depth of these Cardinal finishes are a key indicator that Louisville is already in key position for notable performances that may best last year’s placing at NCAAs come this spring.
Woot Woot – throwing up the ‘L’ for Andrea Cottrell here in Mansfield – off to a great start!! Have fun and see you in Greensbro!
GO CARDS – GO ANDREA