The University of Louisville No. 6/11-ranked men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams won 16 races, including all four relays to sweep the No. 6/12-ranked Missouri Tigers Saturday afternoon at the Ralph Wright Natatorium. The Cardinals also added five more NCAA B-cuts on the second day of racing in the two-day format.
“It is a great win because we have great respect for Missouri and their coaching staff. I had an opportunity to coach a number of them on the US National Team earlier this year, but the credit goes to our seniors single-handedly carried the teams against a really good team coming into our house. The final scores are a little bit skewed because it was a much closer meet throughout the whole meet. We will take it,” said UofL head coach Arthur Albiero.
The Cards were led by Mallory Comerford’s four wins (200-free, 50-free and both relays). Andrea Cottrell was a three-time winner with wins in the 100-breast, wins the 200-IM and the 200-medley relay. On the men’s side, the Cards were headlined by Grigory Tarasevich’s hat trick, winning the 100-back, and both relays. Trevor Carroll had three wins, touching first in the 200-free, and both relays.
In the 200-medley relay, Alina Kendzior (25.54), Andrea Cottrell (27.64), Abigail Houck (24.38) and Mallory Comerford (22.49) combined for a 1:40.05, edging Mizzou by a full second. The Louisville B-relay turned in a time of 1:43.77 from Hannah Whitely, Avery Braunecker, Grace Oglesby and Casey Fanz.
In the men’s 200-medley relay Grigory Tarasevich (22.51) , Carlos Claverie (24.52), , Josh Quallen (20.86) and Trevor Carroll (19.38) combined to clock in at 1:27.27, just ahead of the Missouri A-relay team’s 1:27.83.
In the 1000, Missouri’s Kira Zubar finished three seconds ahead of the rest of the field with a 10:09.35 for the win. Rachael Bradford-Feldman touched second in 10:12.55 with teammate Maggie Jahns in hot pursuit, boarding a 10:13.53.
In the men’s 1000-free, Marcelo Acosta dominated the field, winning by 13 seconds with a 9:09.37. Louisville’s Jarrett Jones was second in 9:22.31 just edging MU’s Nick Davis’ 9:22.74.
Mallory Comerford won the 200-free with a 1:48.72 with teammate Abigail Houck making it a 1-2 sweep with a 1:49.13. .
In the men’s 200-free there were three NCAA B-cuts in the top three finishers. Trevor Carroll (1:37.22) fended off teammate Matthias Lindenbauer (1:37.22) with MU’s Michael Chadwick’s just getting out-touched with a 1:37.55.
Louisville’s Alina Kendzior had an NCAA B-cut with a 54.12 in winning the 100-back with a 54.12. MU’s Hannah Stevens (54.49) and Nadine Laemmler (54.55) had B-cuts as well.
Grigory Tarasevich had an NCAA B-cut time of 48.00 in his win of the 100-back. Cardinal Aaron Greene was fourth in 49.44.
The slimmest of margins separated the top two spots in the 100-breast with Louisville’s Andrea Cottrell winning by one one-hundreth of a second, boarding a 1:00.87 ahead of Katharine Ross’s 1:00.88. Caitlin Ahern was third with a 1:05.03.
There was a duel down the stretch in the men’s 100-breast but Louisville’s Carlos Claverie held off the Tigers with a 54.23 to beat MU’s Fabian Schwingenschloegl’s 54.51 with both times making the NCAA B-cut.
In the women’s 200-butterfly, Abigail Houck was the only finisher under two minutes with a 1:59.90 and the win. Grace Oglesby was second with a 2:00.76.
Louisville Zach Harting held off a hard-charging field down the stretch of the men’s 200-fly. The sophomore put up a 1:48.61 just out-touching MU’s Micah Slaton’s 1:48.80 amd Daniel Hein’s 1:49.90.
The Cardinal women swept the top three spots in the 50-free led by Mallory Comerford’s 23.25. Avery Braunecker was second in 23.36 and Casey Fanz completed the trifecta with a 23.47.
In the men’s 50-free, MU’s Michael Chadwick put up an NCAA B-cut time of 20.04. Trevor Carroll was second in 20.49 with fellow Cardinal Andrej Barna touching third in 20.65.
In the women’s 200-IM, Andrea Cottrell passed MU’s Katharine Ross for the win with a 2:03.01. Ross clocked a 2:03.21 just ahead of Cardinal Alina Kendzior’s 2:03.32.
In the men’s 200-IM, Carlos Claverie had an NCAA B-cut time of 1:48.97 and the win. Louisville’s Josh Quallen was third in 1:50.73 just shy of MU’s Nick Alexander’s 1:50.59.
Louisville took the top two spots in the final relay led by the foursome of Mallory Comerford (50.18), Nastja Govejsek (50.59), Alex Sellers (51.27) and Abigail Houck (50.08) combined for the winning time of 3:22.12 in the 400-free relay. Lainey Visscher (51.13), Rachel Grooms (50.56), Casey Fanz (50:30) and Avery Braunecker (50.56) combined for a second place time of 3:22.55.
In the men’s 400-free relay, Andrej Barna (45.22), Trevor Carroll (43.60), Matthias Lindenbauer (44.16) and Grigory Tarasevich (43.48) teamed to beat Mizzou by almost three seconds with a 2:56.46.
Nancy Allison Worley
Associate Director, Sports Information
University of Louisville Athletics