The University of Louisville has announced their captains for the 2021-2022, which includes 5 men and 3 women for a total of 8.
For the Louisville men, 5 captains will lead the team into their first-ever ACC Championship title defense season.
That includes 5th year senior Nick Albiero, son of Louisville head coach Arthur Albiero, who returns for an extra year of captaincy after one of the best programs in Louisville men’s swimming & diving history. Last year, he won the Louisville men’s 3rd-ever NCAA title by capturing the 200 fly in 1:38.64: a new school record and the 5th-fastest performance in history.
He also broke the school record and tied the ACC record in the 100 fly (44.32) and swam the butterfly leg on the Louisville 200 medley relay at NCAAs, which wound up being the school’s first-ever national championship in a relay.
He is one of three captains who will return as part of the NCAA waiver granted to athletes who participated in the 2021-2022 season. That waiver allows them an extra year of eligibility because of the
Men’s Captains:
- Nick Albiero, Super-Senior (51 NCAA points last season)
- Tanner Cummings, Senior (42 point ACC scorer, NCAA qualifier last season, relay All-American)
- Kyle Worrell, Senior (NCAA 800 free relay anchor – 8th place)
- Colton Paulson, Senior (40 point ACC scorer, NCAA qualifier, 400 free relay anchor – 3rd place)
- Daniel Pinto, Diving, Super-Senior (37 point ACC scorer last season)
Women’s Captains:
- Morgan Friesen, Super-Senior (32 point ACC scorer, NCAA qualifier last season)
- Kaylee Wheeler, Senior (7 point NCAA scorer, NCAA relay All-American last season)
- Diana Dunn, Senior (15 point ACC scorer, NCAA relay All-American last season)
The men’s group includes the lone diving captain, Daniel Pinto.
Also in the men’s captain group is Kyle Worrell. He is the 2nd member of his family to serve as a team captain at Louisville: his older sister Kelsi, a 2016 U.S. Olympian, was a two-year captain for the Cardinals in the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 seasons.
He filled a clutch role for the Cardinals at the NCAA Championship meet – he anchored 1:34.93 on the 800 free relay that placed 8th at NCAAs. That’s a relay he wasn’t on at the ACC Championships, and his time was more than a second better than his flat-start lifetime best in the event.
Paulson and Cummings also grabbed All-America honors with relay swims at the NCAA Championships and contributed big points toward the team’s ACC title-winning effort as well.
The women’s team finished 3rd at ACCs last season and were led by a very young core group of swimmers: of their top 10 scorers at the conference meet, 9 were freshmen or sophomores.
That youth from last season will lead to increased expectations this season, as two seniors and a 5th year lead the team in their followup campaign.
Wheeler was the lone swimmer of the group to score points at the NCAA Championships last season, via a 10th place finish in the 100 breaststroke. All three swam at the NCAA Championships, though, and Dunn picked up Honorable Mention All-America honors as the anchor of the team’s 800 free relay.
The women’s team finished 13th at that NCAA Championship meet, while the men finished 5th at theirs.
Louisville begins their season on Friday with a dual meet against Xavier University, before a group of 18 athletes (9 men and 9 women) head to the SMU Classic the following week.
At the collegiate level, aren’t captains usually chosen by the team members themselves, not assigned by the coaches. Not trying to be snarky or negative, just asking. Younger than the collegiate level, I’ve seen all sorts of things. Thanks!
Every team operates a little differently. The primary path seems to be “team elects, but coaches set the guardrails and have final approval.”