Louisville’s Murilo Sartori Clocks Season-Best 1:32.23 200 Free in Saturday’s Prelims

2023 LOUISVILLE LAST CHANCE MEET

• February 24, 2023
• Ralph Wainwright Natatorium, Louisville, Kentucky
• Short Course Yards (25 yards), Prelims/Finals + Time Trials
• What Will It Take to Qualify?
• Live Results

After a slew of swims that improved qualifying chances yesterday, the Louisville Cardinals continued to put up some fast times at their last chance meet this morning.

The big swim came from 2022 NCAA All-American Murilo Sartori, who improved his season-best time in the 200 free from 1:32.93 to 1:32.23. He was ranked roughly 23rd in the nation with that former time. That probably would’ve been enough to earn a NCAA invite, but in between last chance meets and the upcoming Pac-12 Championships, it wasn’t a sure bet.

This morning’s time moves him all the way up to #7 in the nation (pending other results), and while it’s not an ‘A’ cut, it makes him now a lock to get the invite. Sartori also set a pool record with today’s time, getting under the former mark of 1:32.29 set by fellow Louisville swimmer and Brazilian Joao de Lucca in 2014.

Louisville’s Denis Loktev also raced the 200 free this morning, improving his season-best time from 1:33.47 to 1:33.41. That small improvement is enough to move him up a few spots in the rankings, to roughly 32nd at the moment. Considering a few guys ahead of him on the list are not likely to enter the 200 free at NCAAs (e.g., Carson Foster), there’s a small chance that time could hold up for a NCAA invite, although it’s still nearly half a second slower than what it took to qualify last year.

While no other swimmers substantially improve their qualifying chances, a few had some solid times this morning that could set them up for bigger swims tonight.

• Swimming by himself after teammate Tommy Bried locked in a qualifying time yesterday, Louisville freshman Jackson Millard went 3:52.59 in the 400 IM. His season-best time of 3:46.X came from the ACC Championships last week.
• Louisville freshman Karoline Barrett clocked a 52.50 in the 100 fly, just 0.05s shy of her time from ACCs. She’ll probably need to go right around a 52.0 tonight in order to qualify for NCAAs.
• Another Cardinal freshman, Charlie Crush, came within 0.04s of his 100 back lifetime with a 46.58 this morning. That sets him up well for a new personal best this evening, although he’ll need to drop almost a full second to lock in a qualifying time.
• Louisville senior Caleb Duncan hit a new personal best in the 50 free with a 19.59 this morning. That’s three-tenths short of what it took to qualify last year, but it did take an even tenth off of his previous best, which he set at this meet last year.