Mona McSharry Clocks 1:07.20 LCM 100 Breast as Tennessee Splits Dual Meet vs. Louisville

Tennessee vs. Louisville

• October 12, 2023
• Allan Jones Aquatic Center
  • Knoxville, Tennessee
• LCM (50 meters)
• PDF Results
• Team Scores
  • Women: No. 6 Tennessee 152, No. 3 Louisville 148
  • Men: No. 12 Louisville 156, No. 6 Tennessee 144

Standouts from the University of Tennessee and Louisville showed off their international potential at a dual meet Thursday held in long course meters (LCM).

Tennessee senior Mona McSharry swept the 100-meter breaststroke (1:07.20) and 200 breast (2:28.73) while also throwing down a 29.63 50 breast split on the Lady Vols’ 200 medley relay team (1:49.66) that beat Louisville by more than two seconds. The 23-year-old Irishwoman was within two seconds of her best 100 breast time (1:05.55) from Worlds and within four seconds of her best 200 breast time from the Tokyo 2021 Olympics. She touched first by more than three seconds in the 100 breast but only edged Louisville junior Kim Herkle (2:29.16) by less than half a second.

McSharry earned a runner-up finish in the 100-yard breast at NCAAs last season (57.16), placed 5th at Worlds in the 100-meter breast (1:06.07), and capped her summer two months ago with a U23 Euros title in the 100 breast (1:06.69).

Josephine Fuller also had a huge day for the No. 6 Tennessee women, collecting three individual victories and a relay win. The junior backstroke specialist led off the Lady Vols’ 200 medley relay with a 28.49 back split, then swept both backstroke events (1:00.58/2:12.66) before capturing a crucial 1st-place finish in the 200 IM (2:14.35) to seal a 152-148 team victory over the third-ranked Louisville women. Fuller was only a few tenths off her personal-best 2:14.01 in the 200 IM on the back end of a busy session.

Louisville senior Gabi Albiero was close to her lifetime bests en route to claiming crowns in the 50 free (25.12) and 100 free (55.26). She has been as fast as 24.76/54.35 from U.S. Nationals this summer. Albiero also contributed a 26.33 butterfly split and a 25.16 freestyle leadoff.

Louisville senior Paige Hetrick led off the Cardinals’ 200 medley relay in 28.88, placed 2nd in the 100 back with a personal-best 1:00.58 behind Fuller, and topped the podium in the 100 fly (59.74), where she was the only woman to break a minute. Hetrick’s previous-best 100 back time stood at 1:01.13 from last April.

In a tight women’s 400 free showdown, Louisville freshman Summer Cardwell (4:16.63) snuck past Tennessee junior Julia Mrozinski (4:16.98), who also earned a runner-up finish in theh 200 free (2:01.62) behind classmate Brooklyn Douthwright (2:00.90).

On the men’s side, Tennessee junior Jordan Crooks blazed a 22.54 50 free and sophomore Gui Caribe clocked a 48.38 100 free, but those impressive sprint free victories weren’t enough to stop No. 12 Louisville from escaping with a 156-144 upset over the No. 6 Vols.

The Cardinals claimed the top two spots in the 200 free courtesy of Israeli junior Denis Loktev (1:48.96) and Brazilian junior Murilo Sartori (1:49.39). Fellow Louisville junior Denis Petrashov swept the 100 breast (1:01.90) and 200 breast (2:16.89), and sophomore Jackson Millard dominated the 100 back (55.93) and 200 back (2:01.93). Millard also led off the Cardinals’ 200 medley relay with a 26.31 back split before Petrashov went 27.57 on the breaststroke leg.

Louisville fifth-year Ilia Sibirtsev added an individual victory in the 400 free (3:55.78), well off his personal-best 3:49.86 from the 2021 Russian National Championships, where he placed 4th.

One of the most exciting races of the afternoon came in the men’s 400 free relay, where the Cardinals came within .06 seconds of the Volunteers despite a 49.74 leadoff from Caribe and a 48.85 anchor from Crooks. Sartori impressed with a 49.27 anchor for Louisville.

We may see more LCM meets like this one with long course times now eligible to earn qualification for the 2024 NCAA Championships. The policy change came amid a complicated year for swimmers featuring a winter World Championships and an Olympic Games only four months later.