Tarasevich Smashes Pool Record As Louisville Takes the W Against UNC

LOUISVILLE VS. UNC

• Results
• Hosted by University of Louisville
• Friday, November 4th – Saturday, November 5th
• 25 yards
• Dual meet format
• Day 1 Recap

FINAL TEAM SCORES

• Men: Louisville 241, UNC 114
• Women: Louisville 209, UNC 144

Day 2 of the UNC-Louisville dual meet saw the Cardinals seal their victories over the Tarheels on both the men’s and women’s sides. The Louisville men swept the events on day 2 to leave the final score at 241-114, while the Cardinal women got the job done with 209 points to UNC’s 144.

Louisville’s Grigory Tarasevich was arguably the top performer on the men’s side today after breaking the pool record for a victory in the men’s 100 back. Tarasevich won the race by over 4 seconds, surging to a 45.82 ahead of teammate Aaron Greene, who finished 2nd in 50.21. Tarasevich now owns the top times in the country in both backstrokes, as he also set a pool record in the 200 back yesterday with a nation-leading 1:40.32.

ACC medalist Trevor Carroll tore through the water to pick up a Cardinal victory in the 200 free. Carroll went up against UNC standout Jordan Merrilees, winning the race with a quick 1:37.54. Merrilees finished about a half second back in 1:38.02 to put up one of the strongest day 2 performances for the Tarheel men.

On the women’s side, Louisville All-American Mallory Comerford won her 2nd individual race of the weekend to follow up on her win in the 100 free yesterday. Comerford completed her sweep of the sprint freestyles, racing to a 22.94 victory in the 50 free.

Also sweeping her specialty events was Louisville’s Andee Cottrell, an All-American breaststroker. Cottrell swept the breaststroke races at this meet with her victory in today’s 200 breast, where she touched in 2:12.85 to finish nearly 4 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

Olympic Trials finalist Hellen Moffit pulled off a successful double to bring home 2 wins for the Tarheels. The UNC senior captain went head-to-head with Louisville backstroker Alina Kendzior in the 100 back, winning the race in 53.82 to Kendzior’s 54.39. Moffitt returned to the pool for the 100 fly, where she led a 1-2 punch with her 53.36 ahead of teammate Sarah Koucheki‘s 54.28.

PRESS RELEASE – LOUISVILLE:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. –Finishing the day with five NCAA ‘B’ cuts, the University of Louisville Cardinals swimming and diving team defeated the Tar Heels, with the No. 11-ranked Cardinal men winning 241-112 and the No. 3-ranked women winning 209-144 Saturday morning at the Ralph Wright Natatorium.

“I’m pleased with the way we performed today.” said head coach Arthur Albiero. “That was a big challenge to come back from a little bit of a later night last night and then to come back this morning and bring really good energy. I’m please with the way the group performed from beginning to the end, even when the meet was decided. At the end of the day, we are preparing for championship season coming up. The challenge is to continue to progress and I think we saw a lot of those areas and a few more that we need to continue to work on. We always talk about continuing to take steps in the right direction. This is the first time ever we beat the UNC women. It’s a step in the right direction and we have great respect for them.  For our men, this is a good group of guys we’ve got going right now. It’s very senior heavy, so we enjoy it and learn from these guys and they did a great job leading the team, men and women, and that’s what a good team has to have – great leadership. We’re definitely getting that right now.”

In the women’s 200-medley relay, Louisville’s ‘A’ team of Alina Kendzior (25.64), Andrea Cottrell (27.40), Abbie Houck (24.43), and Casey Fanz (22.54), finished first with a time of 1:40.01. The Louisville ‘B’ team of Hannah Whiteley (26.92), Avery Braunecker (28.90), Hannah Magnuson (24.23), and Rachel Grooms(23.23), placed third overall with a time of 1:43.28. In the men’s 200-medley relay, Louisville’s ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams finished first and second, respectively. The ‘A’ team of Grigory Tarasevich (22.40), Carlos Claverie(24.68), David Boland (21.16), and Trevor Carroll (19.67) finished with a time of 1:27.91, while the ‘B’ team of Ryan Massey (23.56), Brennen Berger (25.36), Josh Quallen (21.10), and Andrej Barna (20.08) posted a 1:30.10.

With a final time of 10:06.11 in the women’s 1000-freestyle, Marah Pugh placed first for the Cardinals Finishing fifth in the same event, Maggie Jahns, a freshman, recorded a time of 10:16.02. For the men, the top-two spots were claimed by Marcelo Acosta (9:07.31), in first, and Jarrett Jones (9:20.74) in second place.

Following the longest event of the meet, was the shortest event with the 50-freestyle. The women placed three of the top-5, with Mallory Comerford finishing first with a time of 22.97 which is an NCAA ‘B’ cut. The men placed two of the top-3, with Mark Chernov finishing first with a time of 20.63, and Andrej Barnafinishing close second with a time of 20.78.

The women’s 100-backstroke was a nail biter with Alina Kendzior finishing a close second with a time of 54.39, and an NCAA ‘B’ cut. Finishing third was freshman, Sofie Underdahl, with a time of 56.50. The men’s team had the first two spots locked in, with Grigory Tarasevich finishing first, with a time of 45.82, which is a new pool record and an NCAA ‘B’ cut. Aaron Greene followed up, in second place, with a time of 50.21.

In the 200-breaststroke, the Cards had a sweep of the top-3, with Andrea Cottrell (2:12.85) finishing first, followed by Rachael Bradford-Feldman (2:16.72) in second, and Silvia Guerra (2:18.81) finishing third. Andrea Cottrell‘s time was an NCAA ‘B’ cut. The men’s team finished first and second, with Carlos Claverie posting a time of 1:59.86, and Todd Owen touching second with a time of 2:02.06.

In the 100-fly, Abigail Houck finished third for the women with a time of 54.80. The men completed another sweep of the top-3 spots led by Josh Quallen (48.91), who just edged David Boland (48.95) after dueling the entire race, with Zach Harting tying for third place with a time of 49.82.

Mallory Comerford got her second win of the morning when she took the women’s 200-freestyle with a time of 1:48.26.  Alex Sellers finished third with a time of 1:52.00. The men placed first and third in the same event with Trevor Carroll was into the wall first with a time of 1:37.54 which is an NCAA ‘B’ cut, and Matthias Lindenbauer was third with a time of 1:38.31.

The Cardinals placed two of the top-3 for both men’s and women’s in the 400-IM. Rachael Bradford Feldman finished first with a time of 4:19.53, and Sofie Underdahl finished third with a time of 4:25.36. Jarrett Jones, and Etay Gurevich finished first and second with respective times of 3:56.32 and 3:57.35.

The final event of the meet was the 400-freestyle relay, the women, the ‘A’ team of Rachel Grooms(50.84), Mallory Comerford (49.52), Casey Fanz (49.41), and Abigail Houck (50.17) combined for a time of 3:19.94. The ‘B’ team for the women finished with a total time of 3:28.18. The men’s ‘A’ team of Matthias Lindenbauer (44.91), Trevor Carroll (44.03), Grigory Tarasevich (43.13), and Andrej Barna (44.30) finished with a total time of 2:56.37, while the ‘B’ team of David Boland (45.51), Josh Quallen (45.26), Zach Harting(45.38), and Aaron Greene (45.47) finished third with a time of 3:01.62.

Andrea Acquista finished first overall in the women’s 1-meter diving event, with a final score of 300.45, and Michaela Sliney finished fourth with a score of 263.25. For the men’s 3-meter diving event, Louisville’s Daniel Fecteau finished fouth with a score of 311.85, and Sean Riley finished sixth with a score of 296.93.

The Louisville Cardinals return to action in two weeks when they host the Louisville Invitational at Ralph Wright Natatorium.

PRESS RELEASE – UNC:

LOUISVILLE, KY. –  The University of North Carolina women’s swimming and diving teams wrapped up a two-day ACC dual meet at the Ralph Wright Natatorium against the nationally-ranked Louisville Cardinals Saturday afternoon.  The third-ranked Louisville women prevailed by a score of 209-144 over the #20 UNC women while the #11 UofL men downed the #20 Carolina men’s team 241-114.

Carolina fell to 0-3 in dual meet competition so far this season having competed against one of the best schedules in the nation.  The UNC men have already competed against #7 Georgia, #11 Louisville and #13 Tennessee.  The Tar Heel women have gone up against #3 Louisville, #8 Georgia and #11 Tennessee.

“I felt we were better today on the second day of the meet than we were two weeks at Tennessee.  Today we had over 30 season best performances and that was one of the goals for the weekend.  Certainly everyone in the country is working hard now and I am certain Louisville is as well.  They were deep and little too much for us this weekend but I do feel good about the work we are doing and the improvements we are making.  I am looking forward to competing again in two weeks,” said UNC head coach Rich DeSelm.

On the second day of competition, UNC senior Hellen Moffitt led the way for the Tar Heels as she picked up a pair of first-place finishes.  She took home top honors in the 100-yard backstroke in 53.82 and just two events later she claimed the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 53.32.  On Saturday, Carolina earned second place in both relay events and also merited second-place finishes in five individual events from four different swimmers – Caroline Baldwin, Natalie Ward, Caty Hulsey and Macey Arnold – as well as junior diver Elissa Dawson.

The second day on the men’s side was highlighted by the work of senior diver Jack Nyquist who dominated on the three-meter board with a score of 387.30.  UNC’s Sean Burston and Andrew Owsiany finished second and third, respectively, with scores of 361.13 and 330.60.  Carolina had runnerup finishes in both of Saturday’s relays and the Tar Heels got a second-place finish from senior Jorden Merrilees in the 200-yard freestyle.

On the opening day of competition on Friday, Carolina swimmers and divers turned in some outstanding efforts.  Both Tar Heels’ women’s relay teams had solid showings on the opening day. Caroline Baldwin, Katie Munch, Hellen Moffitt and Sarah Hitchens combined to win the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:41.91. Tar Heel senior women’s captain Hellen Moffitt also had strong swims in a pair of individual events.  She won the 200-yard backstroke in 1:57.60, finishing ahead UofL’s Alina Kendzior by 1.57 seconds. Her fellow senior teammate, Sarah Koucheki won the 200-yard butterfly in 1:58.53.

UNC divers, led by coach Abel Sanchez, were quite productive on the first day. Elissa Dawson and Maria Lohman went 1-2 in three-meter diving with Dawson far ahead of the field in a big way with a score of 374.63.  On the men’s side, Jack Nyquist continued his dominance this season as he scored 377.93 to win one-meter diving by a whopping 34.88-point margin.  Sean Burston was not far behind with a third place finish.

Carolina senior Jorden Merrilees had a tremendous Friday session as the Australian won the 500-yard freestyle in 4:25.26.  The Tar Heel men had respectable finishes in the 200 IM as Eugene Teeand Michael Meyer went 2-4.  The UNC women produced a similar 2-4 finish in the same event with swims from Hellen Moffitt and Sarah Koucheki.

North Carolina will return to the pool on Thursday, November 17 when it competes in the NCSU/GAC Invitational in a three-day event that wraps up on Saturday, November 19.