#13 Tennessee Men, #6 Louisville Women Led to Victories by Deep Sprint Crews

Louisville v. Tennessee

• Thursday, October 20th, 2022
• Ralph Wright Natatorium, Louisville, KY
• Dual Meet Format (SCY)
• Full Results
• Scores
  • Women: #6 Louisville 163, #8 Tennessee 137
  • Men: #14 Tennessee 176, #13 Louisville 124

A top 10 clash on the women’s side and a top 15 clash on the men’s side, Thursday’s dual meet between national powers Louisville and Tennessee lived up to the hype.

On the women’s side, #6 Louisville upended #8 Tennessee, while on the men’s side, #14 Tennessee rolled to a 51-point victory over #13 Louisville.

A sign of the times for both programs is that Louisville dominated the diving over a historically-strong Tennessee program. Cardinals divers won every diving event, including a school record on 1-meter by senior Adam Sneden. His score of 349.65 broke the old record of 338.00 scored by Sean Wilkinson in 2002. Tennessee was without All-American diver Matthew Wade, who injured his hand in the morning before the meet.

Women’s Recap

• #6 Louisville – 163
• #8 Tennessee – 137

With her older brother Nic now graduated, junior Gabi Albiero has moved into the spotlight for the Cardinals. The daughter of head coach Arthur Albiero, Gabi had a dominant display on Thursday that included an opening relay anchor split of 21.94.

That led Louisville to a win in 1:38.65, which ranks them 9th in the NCAA so far this season.

She would go on to win all four of her events individually. Next up was the 50 free individually in 22.55, leading a 1-2 finish with Christiana Regenauer (22.63) for the Cardinals. Both swimmers were faster at the suited SMU Classic. Mona McSharry placed 3rd for Tennessee in 22.95.

Albiero and Regenauer then went 1-2 in the 100 free as well in times of 49.37 and 49.95. They finished the day by swimming the first two legs (49.19, 48.97, respectively) of Louisville’s 400 free relay. Combined with freshman Julia Dennis (49.28) and Tristen Ulett (50.44), the Cardinals swam a 3:17.88 to put the finishing touch on their meet win. That relay ranks them 4th in the country, and tops in the ACC, so far this season.

Louisville’s sprint group showed surprising depth at the meet. On their “B” relay, which placed 2nd in 3:24.70, freshman Ella Welch swam a flat-start 50.32.

Tennessee’s 400 free relay was disqualified, but touched four-and-a-half seconds back. A leadoff of 50.68 by freshman Julia Burroughs was the highlight of that group.

Junior Tristen Ulett swept the butterfly races for Louisville in times of 53.07 and 1:58.33, respectively, and also swam 2:02.77 in the 200 IM. For the defending 4th-place finisher in both butterfly events at last year’s ACC Championships, the count is already six individual wins through just three meets so far this season.

Tennessee, still swimming without two of their top performers from last season, kept the meet close in part thanks to the individual efforts of Josephine Fuller and Mona McSharry.

Fuller won three individual events on the day: the 100 back (53.35), the 200 back (1:56.45), and the 200 IM (2:01.28). Especially impressive was her 200 backstroke, where she beat former US National Junior Teamer Rye Ulett of Louisville by almost 4 seconds in Ulett’s best event.

Though primarily a backstroker (she was 6th at SECs last year in the 100), Fuller has been swimming a lot of breaststroke this season for the Volunteers. That seems to be paying off big in the IM races, where she’s already been much faster than she was in last year’s early-season dual meets.

Tennessee’s actual breaststroker, Mona McSharry, won the 100 yard race in 1:00.79 by a full second; and the 200 yard race in 2:12.94 by more than three seconds. Louisville freshmen Cecilia Viberg (1:00.79) and Ella Welch (1:02.99) have some talent, but graduation has left those races as the Cardinals’ biggest hole this season.

Tennessee had big results in the 200 free via a top three finish. That included a tie for first between freshman Julia Burroughs and sophomore Brooklyn Douthwright in matching 1:48.79s. Kristen Stege also out-battled Louisville freshman Paige Kuwata in the 1000 free to win in 9:53.58. Kuwata was 2nd in 9:55.53. Steve was 9:49 last week against NC State.

The Volunteers continue to race without SEC Champions Ellen Walshe and Julia Mrozinski. Walshe says that she’s staying home in Ireland for the fall semester but plans to return to Tennessee in the spring, while the German Mrozinski still hasn’t competed this year for the Volunteers in spite of the Tennessee staff saying that she’s on deck and will compete for them this season.

Men’s Recap

• #13 Tennessee – 176
• #14 Louisville – 124

Even with the Louisville men outscoring Tennessee 26-12 in diving, the Volunteer swimmers were dominant in the lanes to role to a 51-point victory over Louisville. That makes Tennessee 12-4-1 all-time against Louisville head-to-head.

Tennessee’s rising sprint free group continued its early-season run of results. The only individual double winner of the men’s meet was Jordan Crooks, who won both the 100 fly (46.04) and the 50 free (19.35).

50 Free Race Video:

After a breakout freshman year last season, Crooks has been on-fire so far this season – though this is a new peak even by his standard. Last week against NC State, he was 19.37 in the 50 free and 46.84 in the 100 free, and against UNCW three weeks ago he was 19.36 in the 50 free and 46.81 in the 100 fly. That 19.36-19.37-19.35 run in the 50 free is impressive consistency for the Cayman Islander.

While last year, he had to carry most of the sprint load by himself, this season he has the support of another Brazilian freshman Gui Caribe. On Thursday, Caribe was 2nd to Crooks in the 50 free (19.40) and won the 100 free in 42.81: a second-and-a-half better than the field. Both times are personal bests as he’s really settling into yards racing in his third meet for the Vols.

The two combined on the back-half of a winning 1:25.66 for the Tennessee 200 medley relay. Harrison Lierz (22.16) and Michael Houlie (23.87) swam the front-half of that relay, with Crooks splitting 20.76 and Caribe splitting 18.87 on the anchor leg.

Tennessee’s 200 medley relay now ranks 4th in the NCAA (and 4th in the SEC) this season.

Tennessee left Caribe with only three of the maximum four swims at the meet, holding him off the 400 free relay. Even so, Tennessee won by almost a second in 2:54.64. Crooks anchored that relay in 41.62. Caribe likely could’ve knocked at least two seconds off that relay, which would have made it tops in the country.

Crooks and Caribe now represent two of the top six performers in the country this season in the 100 free and two of the top three in the 50 free.

While Louisville is in a rebuilding year, they still have a few sprint weapons: Murilo Sartori swam 43.54, and Dalton Lowe swam 43.48 on the middle legs of Louisville’s runner-up relay. Both are underclassmen.

Sartori won the 200 free in 1:36.28 – he was 8th at NCAAs in that event last season. That’s a similar time to what he swam at this meet last year. Lowe won the 100 back individually in 47.53, out-touching Tennessee’s Harrison Lierz (47.58).

That was one of a number of close finishes on the men’s side at the meet. In the 100 breaststroke, Tennessee 5th year Jarel Dillard used big front-half speed to out-touch Louisville sophomore Denis Petrashov 53.62-53.70.

Those were two of just four individual swimming events on the men’s side that were won by Americans on Thursday. Others were Tennessee’s Gus Rothrock’s win in the 200 IM (1:49.68) over teammate Harrison Lierz (1:47.73), another close race; and Lierz’s win in the 200 backstroke in 1:46.07.

Tennessee finished 1-2-3 in that 200 IM. Of note, Louisville star freshman Charlie Crush swam and finished 6th in 1:53.35. Crush came to the Cardinals as one of the top backstrokers in the class, but without much focus on the 200 IM. He has now swum that race at every meet so far this season, indicating that this event, and not the 100 fly or 50 free, will be his third event going forward. That makes sense as he’s very good in all four strokes – with best times of 47.10 (back), 55.04 (breast), 46.82 (fly), and 45.13 (free).

Louisville’s top performance of the day came in the 1000 free, where Ilia Sibirtsev won in 9:06.57 – a 9 second margin of victory over his sophomore teammate Eli Shoyat.

Up Next

Tennessee continues its fall gauntlet with a dual meet on the road against Florida on November 5. Louisville will give the new-look Notre Dame program its first big test on November 11 before traveling to the Purdue Invite a few days later.

Louisville Release

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The No. 10 University of Louisville swimming and diving team split with the No. 13/7 University of Tennessee Thursday afternoon at the Ralph Wright Natatorium.  The Cardinal women upset the No. 7 Volunteer women 163-137 but the men fell to No. 13 UT 176-124.

The Cardinals were paced by four multiple event winners.  Gabi Albiero won four events with wins in both the 200 medley relay and the 400 free relay as well as the 50-free and the 100-free. Tristen Ulett swept the butterfly events and added the 400 free relay too. Adam Sneden swept both boards winning the 1- and 3-meter springboard. Christiana Regenauer was a part of both relay wins.

The Louisville women began the meet with a win as the foursome of Abby Hay (25.74), Cecilia Viberg (27.50), Christiana Regenauer (23.47) and Gabi Albiero’s anchor of  21.94 combined to put up the winning time of 1:38.65.  The Cardinal men finished second in their relay. Dalton Lowe (22.03), Denis Petroshov (24.41), Abdelrahman El-Araby (20.73) and Michael Eastman (1965) posted a 1:26.82. The UT men won with a time of 1:25.66.

In the 1000 freestyle, freshman Paige Kuwata touched second with a time of 9:55.53 just two seconds behind UT’s Kristen Stege‘s winning time of 9:53.53.  Louisville’s Ilia Sibirtsev ran away with the men’s 1000 free with a time of 9:06.57, with teammate Eli Shoyat touching second in 9:15.83 for the 1-2 sweep.

Tennessee took the top three spots in the women’s 200 freestyle with Vol Julia Burroughs tying with her teammate Brooklyn Douthwright with a time of 1:48.79.  Madie Hall was the top Cardinals, turning in a fourth place time of 1:51.05 with Maddie Luther right behind her 1:51.19 for fifth.  Murilo Sartori won the men’s 200 freestyle 1:36.28 for the Cardinals. UofL’s Denis Loktev was third with a time of 1:37.86.

Tennessee’s Josephine Fuller won the 100 backstroke with a time of 53.35. Louisville’s Abby Hay was second with a time of 55.29.  For the Louisville men, Dalton Lowe picked up a win surging past Tennessee’s Harrison Lierz to put up the top time of 47.53 just .05 ahead of UT.  Louisville’s Charlie Crush scored for the Cards with a time 49.55.

Cecilia Viberg was second in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:01.79 just behind Mona McSharry‘s win.  Denis Petrashov was edged by UT’s Jarel Dillard, who finished in 53.62 just barely ahead of Petrashov’s 53.70.

UofL’s women got their first individual win of the meet in the 200 butterfly when Tristen Ulett finished almost three seconds ahead of the field with a time of 1:58.33. Alena Kraus was third in 2:01.97 and Paige Kuwata was fifth with a time of 2:03.52.  Louisville’s Gustavo Saldo held off a charging Martin Espernberger for the win, boarding a 1:47.21 in the men’s 200 fly. Tommy Bried scored for the Cards with a time of 1:49.75.

Louisville’s Gabi Albiero and Christiana Regenauer took the top two spots in the 50 free with the times of 22.55 and 22.63 respectively.  Julia Dennis touched fourth in 22.98 for the Cardinals.  Tennessee’s Jordan Crooks won the 50 free with a time of 19.35.  Abdelrahman El-Araby was third for the Cardinals with a time of 19.80. UofL’s Michael Eastman was fourth, going 20.50.

Adam Sneden led all divers on the 1-meter board with a score of 349.65 for the Louisville win and teammate Che Stephens was second with a score of 303.68. Both scores were NCAA Zone Cuts. Sneden won the 3-meter board as well with a mark of 349.80. Logan Smith was fourth for the Cardinals boarding a score of 306.90.

On the 3-meter board for the women, Louisville took the top three spots led by Jiselle Miller’s 303.39. Else Praasterinkwas second with a mark of 296.18 and Lindsay Gizzi’s third place score of 283.20. Lindsay Gizzi won the 1-meter board with a mark of 282.15, Jiselle Miller was second in 268.58 and Else Praasterink was fourth with a score of 266.25.

Gabi Albiero notched her third win of the meet with a win in the 100 freestyle, going 49.37. Christiana Regenauer was second in 49.95. On the men’s side, UT’s Gui Caribe won in 42.81 just ahead of Abdelrahman El-Araby’s second place time of 44.33. Murilo Sartori was fourth for the Cardinals with a time of 44.56.

In the 200 backstroke, UT’s Josephine Fuller won with a time of 1:56.45. Louisville’s Rye Ulett touched second with a tine of 2:00.43 and Jordan Durocher scored for the Cards with a fourth place finish of 2:01.08.  UT swept the top three spots in the 200 back led by winner Harrison Lierz‘s 1:46.07. Jackson Millard was the top Cardinal with a fourth place time of 1:49.40.

Tennessee won the women’s 200 breaststroke when Mona McSharry touched in 2:12.94. Abby Hay was the top Cardinal, posting the third-place time of 2:16.71. Lyubomir Epitropov of Tennessee took the men’s 200 breaststroke, edging Louisville’s Denis Petrashov (1:59.18) with a time of 1:58.85.

Freshman Paige Kuwata won the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:51.40 for the Louisville women.  Tennessee’s Joaquin Vargas won the men’s 500, stopping the clock in 4:24.55. Louisville’s Eli Shoyat was second with a time of 4:27.10 with Ilia Sibirtsev taking third, going 4:27.99.

Tristen Ulett won the 100 butterfly for Louisville with a time of 53.07.  Alena Kraus was third with a time of 55.21.  UT’s Jordan Crooks took the men’s 100 butterfly with a time of 46.04.

In the 200 IM, UT’s Josephine Fuller touched first with a time of 2:01.25. Abby Hay of Louisville was second, going 2:02.50 and Tristen Ulett was third with a time of 2:02.77.  Tennessee won the men’s event too when Gus Rothrock touched in 1:49.68. Jackson Millard was the top Cardinals with a fourth place time of 1:53.00.

The Louisville women clinched their win by taking the 400 free relay. Gabi Albiero (49.19), Christiana Regenauer(48.97), Julia Dennis (49.28) and Tristen Ulett (50.44) joined forces to post a 3:17.88 for the win.  Louisville B-relay took second with Ella Welch (50.36), Alena Kraus (51.81), Karoline Barrett (51.57) and Madie Hall (50.96) combined for a time of 3:24.70. The Tennessee men’s A-relay won the men’s 400 free relay. The Louisville foursome of Abdelrahman El-Araby (44.39), Murilo Sartori (43.54), Dalton Lowe (43.48) and Michael Eastman (44.13) combined for the second place 2:55.54.  The Louisville B-relay was third with Guy Brooks (46.01), Denis Loktev (44.54), Caleb Duncan (45.10) and Owen Taylor (45.50) went 3:01.15.

The Cardinals head to Notre Dame on Nov. 11 to face the rival Irish. Notre Dame is now helmed by former UofL associate head coach Chris Lindauer to up the temperatures in an already spicy rivalry.

Tennessee Release

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Thanks to an all-around effort that saw the Vols win 11 of their events, 13th-ranked Tennessee men’s swimming & diving earned a top-10 win against Louisville on Thursday afternoon at Ralph Wright Natatorium, while the Lady Vols posted the top time in seven events but fell just short with their side of the meet.

The Tennessee men won big behind a 176-124 score against No. 10 Louisville, while the women lost 163-137 to the 10th-ranked Cardinals.

Leading the way for the men, Jordan Crooks posted two season-best times to finish first in both the 50 free and 100 fly. With a mark of 46.04 in the butterfly event, Crooks’ mark moved into first nationally, while his time of 19.35 in the 50 free ranked as the second-best time in the country this season.

Gui Caribe also notched multiple nationally-ranked times. With a mark of 19.40, Caribe’s performance in the 50 free leads all NCAA freshmen and ranks him third overall in the country. His time also tied for fifth in Tennessee history in the event. In the 100 free, his first-place finish of 42.81 checked in at fourth in the nation and narrowly missed cracking the top 10 in the program record books. Caribe also recorded an impressive 18.87 split as the anchor of the 200 medley relay.

In a close 100 breast race between the top three, Jarel Dillard posted the best time, touching the wall in 53.62. Only .14 seconds behind was Michael Houlie, who took home a third-place finish. In tight battle during the 200 breast, Lyubomir Epitropov and Houlie took home first and third, as Epitropov touched the wall in 1:58.85 and Houlie posted a 2:01.73.

Joaquin Vargas dominated the 500 free, posting a time of 4:24.55 to win the event. He also recorded a solid second-place finish in the 200 free behind a 1:36.85 mark.

UT popped off during the 200 back event, with Harrison Lierz, Nick Simons and Landon Driggers sweeping the podium. Lierz finished with a time of 1:46.07, while Simons and Driggers came in close behind at 1:46.66 and 1:46.75, respectively. In the 100 back, Lierz (47.58) came in second merely .05 seconds behind first place. Simons threw down a 48.80 mark to take third.

In another sweep, Gus Rothrock, Lierz, and Driggers tallied one, two and three in the 200 IM. Rothrock led the pack with a 1:49.68 finish, while Lierz and Driggers touched the wall shortly after at 1:49.78 and 1:50.27.

Martin Espernberger and Joel Giraudeau notched second- and third-place finishes in the 200 fly, touching the wall in 1:47.34 and 1:48.69, respectively.

The men opened their meet with a bang, taking first and third during the 200 medley relay. The team of Lierz, Houlie, Crooks and Caribe posted a time of 1:25.66, and Nick Simons, Jarel Dillard, Luke Brice and Scott Scanlon finished in 1:27.66.

The men capped off the meet with the 400 free relay, where Aleksey Tarasenko, Björn Kammann, Vargas and Crooks secured a win with a time of 2:54.64. Entering the final leg of the event, the Vols faced more than a second and a half deficit before Crooks threw down a 41.62 split to lift UT to the win in the event.

“The resiliency was really impressive,” Associate Head Coach Rich Murphy said. “I think Louisville always brings out a strong effort from our men and our women. Nothing came easy today nor did we expect it to. I’m really impressed with how we closed the meet, especially winning the last relay, winning the IM, winning the 100 fly and winning the 500 free. That is the kind of DNA we want to have as a program, closing events like that at the end of the meet, knowing that the meet was in question throughout. I thought the support of one another was outstanding. Jordan was fantastic. Gui really gave us a spark and I really love the energy he’s bringing. I think again for us this season, Harrison Lierz has been vital to our team’s success. Across the board, I thought we had a lot of people contributing points today. It was a total team effort. It was really pleasing to see.”

Nick Stone secured the best scores for Tennessee in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events. He posted a second-place score in the 3-meter (340.28) and third place in the 1-meter (296.85). Owen Redfearn also appeared on the podium for third place in the 3-meter with a score of 335.10.

Tanesha Lucoe was the women’s top finisher in the 1-meter dive with a score of 267.75 for third place, while Grace Cable ranked fourth in the 3-meter with 281.55.

“First off, I am a little disappointed, Matthew Wade hurt his hand this morning. It was a real downer for the whole team to be honest with you, “diving coach Dave Parrington said. “And certainly for him. I was really happy with our two freshmen. In the first event, we had our share of inconsistencies in the men’s 1-meter. We had some bright spots that I’m very proud of. On the 3-meter, those guys bounced right back. It was great to see. Owen Redfearn stepped up for a Zone-qualifying score. He actually did really well all day, so that was a really good thing for him. So, with the men, a solid job. Especially considering we didn’t have Matt or Bryden Hattie there. It’s a whole different story if those two guys are in there.

“On the women’s side I had mixed reviews, certainly on the 3-meter I was a little disappointed. Like the men, there were bright spots in a few areas, but we needed them to step up despite the environment; it was definitely loud, there was music playing and it was a raucous crowd. It’s not what we are accustomed to. I would’ve liked for us to step up and handled it a little better. It was good to see Elle Renner get her Zone-qualifying score on the 1-meter. We’ve got to get back, think it through a little bit and put it all back together.”

The Lady Vols dominated the 200 free, where Julia Burroughs and Brooklyn Douthwright tied for first place with a 1:48.79 finish and Abby Samansky followed close behind for third (1:50.49) to complete the sweep. Burroughs also competed in the 200 medley relay alongside Josephine Fuller, Mona McSharry and Emma Carlton. The squad earned second place and marked a 1:39.44 time.

Kristen Stege remained undefeated this season in the 1000 free, touching the wall in 9:53.58 and taking home first place for the Lady Vols. Behind her came Claire Nguyen (10:06.66) and Lauren Wetherell (10:12.23), who notched spots for third and fourth place. Stege (4:55.13) also grabbed a third-place finish behind Kate McCarville in the 500 free, as the latter posted a time of 4:54.40 to take second.

Fuller swiftly recorded the fastest times in the 100 back (53.35) and 200 back (1:56.45). She was followed in both events for third place by her teammates: Olivia Harper (55:47) in the 100 back and Bayley Stewart (2:00.71) in the 200 back. Fuller also secured a first-place finish in the 200 IM, completing the event with a mark of 2:01.28.

McSharry and Kailee Morgan both earned top-three finishes in the breaststroke races. McSharry swept both events, touching the wall in 1:00.79 in the 100 breast and 2:12.94 in the 200 breast. She also took third in the 50 free (22.95). Morgan placed third in each race, recording marks of 1:02.43 (100 breast) and 2:16.16 (200 breast).

Sara Stotler finished at second place in both the 100 fly (54.91) and 200 fly (2:01.06) events.

“Congratulations to a really competitive Louisville team,” Associate Head Coach Ashley Jahn said. “They always bring their competitive selves to every opportunity and they did that again today. Congratulations to them for a great performance. I think our team today did a lot of things really well. I’m really proud of their competitive efforts. The Lady Vols that were here at the meet did a really great job of competing and putting together really strong performances. We just need to be a little bit better. We’re going to compete with team that we have; it’s very competitive and we can still get better. Looking forward to continuing to progress through the fall as we head into the Tennessee Invitation and through the rest of the season.”