After a first day where Notre Dame dominated a lot of the headlines, the Louisville Cardinals came out blazing on the meet’s second day in Indianapolis.
The big story was freshman Kelsi Worrell in the 100 fly, where she went a 51.55: the fastest time in the country this season, and a new Meet Record by roughly a second-and-a-half. That gives her more than a two-and-a-half second advantage headed into the final, ahead of Notre Dame’s Kim Holden (54.12). The Cardinals overall have four swimmers in this A-Final, including another freshman, Brittany Robinson, seeded 3rd in 54.44.
That swim capped of a run of opening the session by taking the top seed in three-straight events. Tanja Kylliainen sits first in the 400 IM in 4:14.64, followed by her fellow sophomore, and teammate, Abby Chin in 4:15.53. Those two were both coasting in that prelim, given that nobody in the field was seeded within about 7 seconds of them.
Another Louisville freshman, Nolan Tesone, cruised to the top seed in the men’s 400 IM in 3:48.34. That’s a personal best time for him, and puts him four seconds ahead of a string of 5-straight Notre Dame seeds. Even when the Louisville men are poised to run away with an event victory, they can’t escape Notre Dame’s depth this year.
Pitt’s Kourosh Ahani broke that streak in the fourth event of the morning session. The Canadian sophomore continues a roll for the Panthers that includes now at least 8 school records through four sessions of swimming.
While Louisville’s men didn’t get the top seed, their women continued to be sharp, with junior Breann McDowell taking top honors in the 200 free with a 1:47.04, followed by Pitt’s Danielle des Tombe in 1:8.87, and a whole lot of 1:49’s. Of note, Notre Dame’s Suzanne Bessire was the top seed coming in, but slid to 13th with a 1:51.24.
In maybe the most anticipated head-to-head showdown of the entire meet, two guys who will contend for the national title later this month took the top two seeds in the men’s 200 free. Frank Dyer was 1st in 1;36.65, with Joao de Lucca 2nd in 1:37.09. The rest of the field (including Pitt freshman David Sweeney in 1:37.25) was surprisingly close to them, but we’ll hope that both were just conserving energy for finals; especially with how fast each was in the relays.
The Cardinals’ women’s streak finally came to an end toward the end of the session, where Notre Dame’s strengths lie. First, sophomore Emma Reaney topped the 100 breaststroke prelim in 59.20 – a second-and-a-half better than anybody else in a surprisingly-weak field. That’s also yet another ND and Big East Record for her, breaking her own mark of 59.38.
Her teammates Kim Holden and Kelly Ryan finished up the session for the women by going 1-2 in the 100 back in 53.7 and 53.9.
On the men’s side, the day wound down with a setup for a big men’s 100 breast final, with Addison Bray and Kameron Chastain (from Louisville), plus Zach Stephens and Chris Johnson (from Notre Dame) all sitting between 53.5 and 53.9.
And Pitt’s Adam Maczewski, who is trying to get his first NCAA qualification this year as a senior, topped the 100 back in 48.06.
Full, live meet results available here.
Up/Downs
Below are the scores after two days, plus Friday’s up/down tables, without the diving included. The women’s race will continue to be very tight (it was only a 30 point margin coming into Friday).
On the men’s side, this meet, barring a disaster, should belong to Notre Dame. In sort of a quirky result, the Fighting Irish had 17 A-finalists and 0 B-finalists at this meet; further, as far as we can tell, the only swims that didn’t make an A-final were exhibitions, and of those only 3 would’ve wound up anywhere but the A-final. That’s an impressive result.
Women’s Scores
1. Louisville, University of 332
2. Notre Dame, University of 302
3. Pittsburgh, University of 188
4. Villanova University 160
5. Rutgers University 153.5
6. Connecticut, University of 143
7. Cincinnati, University of 117.5
8. Seton Hall University 68
9. Georgetown University 62
10. Providence College 42
Men’s Scores
1. Notre Dame, University of 367
2. Louisville, University of 224
3. Pittsburgh, University of 191.5
4. Connecticut, University of 167.5
5. Georgetown University 101
6. Cincinnati, University of 86
7. Villanova University 79
8. Seton Hall University 76
9. Providence College 61
| Women’s | Ups | Downs |
| Louisville | 13 | 3 |
| Notre Dame | 11 | 6 |
| Rutgers | 6 | 4 |
| Pitt | 4 | 7 |
| Villanova | 3 | 5 |
| Cincinnati | 2 | 7 |
| Uconn | 1 | 6 |
| Georgetown | 0 | 2 |
| Providence | 0 | 0 |
| Seton Hall | 0 | 0 |
| Men’s | Ups | Downs |
| Notre Dame | 17 | 0 |
| Louisville | 15 | 4 |
| Pitt | 4 | 11 |
| Uconn | 2 | 9 |
| Cincinnati | 1 | 8 |
| Georgetown | 1 | 2 |
| Villanova | 0 | 3 |
| Seton Hall | 0 | 3 |
| Providence | 0 | 0 |
Congrats Kelsi! She is outstanding.
Impressive swims on the morning side by Kelsi Worrell and Emma Reaney. Unfortunately the live feed cut out just before the end of Worrell’s swim but she was just crushing the field. Also, big prelims session for Rutgers with the most A finalists after Notre Dame and Louisville. They had 6 A finalists this session while only have 2 the entire meet last year. Even with West Virginia out of the conference, that’s still some significant improvement.