October 24, 2014, Ann Arbor, MI – The first day of the Quad Meet taking place in Ann Arbor, Michigan between Indiana University, University of Michigan, University of Louisville, and University of Texas certainly lived up to the hype and more, as fast swims on both the Men’s and Women’s sides lit up the scoreboard. After this first day of competition, the overall team scores (scored in a Quad Dual format) are as follows:
Women: TEX 112, UM 74; UM 117, LOU 69; UM 95, IU 91; TEX 129.50, LOU 56.5; TEX 108, IU 78; IU 109, LOU 77
Men: UM 107, TEX 79; UM 124, LOU 62; UM 130.50; IU 55.50; TEX 110, LOU 76; TEX 114 IU 72; LOU 94.50, IU 91.50
Full day 1 recap to follow.
At the conclusion of today’s competition, I was able to speak with Tanja Kylliainen on the women’s side and Thomas Dahlia on the men’s side to get a sense of how these two Seniors felt the Louisville team performed today. For her part, Tanja said she “felt really good” during her individual 200 Fly event, in which she won with a swift time of 1:56.78. She described how she entered the event with a different mindset from the SMU Classic last week, as she had more time between events this time around.
Tanja’s goal was “to be faster than last week”, which she accomplished, as tonight’s time beats her previous outing at the SMU Classic, where she clocked a 1:57.34. When asked about her strengths in this particular race, in which she led the field by almost two seconds, Tanja indicated that her “underwaters are certainly her key”. She considers her anaerobic capacity to be her strong suit.
Thomas Dahlia indicated he was pleased with his 53.77 Breaststroke split within the 400 Medley Relay, the meet’s first event. Additionally, he liked how he felt in the 100 Breaststroke event, where his 54.93 earned him third place. At his previous outing against Xavier University on October 10th, Dahlia clocked a 55.84, so he displayed a marked improvement this week.
Dahlia also said he felt all of tonight’s relays for Louisville were “really good” and noted how several swimmers also stepped up in individual events, including Nolan Teson‘s third place finish in the 200IM against a strong field of contenders such as Will Licon, and Dylan Bosch.
When asked how the post-graduates accompanying the team impacted overall morale, Dahlia noted that “having Joao [De Lucca] cheering for us is a plus. He knows how to talk to the team; he can motivate the team. He has a lot of experience.”
To capture the overall team’s view on the night, head coach Arthur Albiero expressed that “This is a fantastic racing environment and we are excited to be here. Our team has stepped up to the challenge in many spots. We let a few opportunities escape us, but we will be better tomorrow.”
They’ll certainly have their chance, as the competition continues at 10:00am at Canham Natatorium in Ann Arbor.
