Swimming & Diving

Louisville leads after day two of American Athletic Conference Swimming Championships

Championship Central
Results
Standings after Day 2
Fridays Prelim Heat Sheet
 Video Highlights

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Day two of the American Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships wrapped up Friday at the Ralph Wright Natatorium in Louisville, Ky. with the host Louisville Cardinals sitting in first place on both the men’s and women’s side. The second day of competition featured preliminaries in the morning and finals in the evening session in nine different events.

The night opened with the women’s 500-Yard Freestyle, with Cincinnati getting their first event victory of the championships as star freshman Jackie Keire took first place. Keire swam a pool record 4:43.02, finishing nearly a second ahead of the second place swimmer from SMU, Nina Rangelova. Louisville freshman Abbie Houck took third place in 4:46.11.

In a very close race, UConn’s Chris Girg was first to the wall to claim the victory in the men’s 500-Yard Freestyle. Girg finished in 4:19.24, edging Louisville’s Trevor Carroll, who touched in 4:22.60. The Cardinals Matthias Lindenbauer swam 4:23.87 to place third.

After setting a fast pace in the morning preliminaries, Louisville’s Tanja Kylliainen bettered her mark and set a pool record by swimming a 1:56.34 to win the 200-Yard IM, a NCAA Invite time in 2013. Morgan Pfaff took second in 1:58.46, with Erica Belcher swimming a 2:00.57 to pick up a third place finish for the Cardinals.

The men’s 200-Yard IM was won by Louisville’s Nolan Tessone, who led throughout the race and bested his own pool record. Tessone touched the wall in 1:45.30, beating the second place finisher and fellow Cardinal Josh Quallen by 1.5 seconds. The freshman finished second in 1:46.82, with SMU’s Nicolai Hansen taking third in 1:47.06.  The Cardinals claimed four of the top five finishes in the race.

The women’s 50-Yard freestyle went to UConn’s Chinyere Pigot, who raced to the wall in a pool record time of 22.61. The former Olympian from Suriname, Pigot held off SMU freshman Marne Erasmus, who placed second in 22.68. Louisville’s Krissie Brandenburg was third in 22.73.

In the shortest race of the night, Joao De Lucca won the men’s 50-Yard Freestyle, swimming a pool record 19.58. The senior bested teammate Thomas Dahlia by .36 seconds, with SMU’s Ramon Melo finishing third in 19.91.

Women’s 1-Meter Diving was won by Houston’s Natasha Burgess, who scored a 289.25.Teammate Danielle Shedd came in second with a 284.50. UConn’s Taryn Urbanus, Thursday’s champion in the 3-meter board, placed third with a 270.90.

The women’s 200-Yard Freestyle Relay was won by SMU, who outpaced Cincinnati’s swimmers to the wall. The team of Marne Erasmus, Isabella Arcila, Monika Babok, and Nathalie Lindborg swam a 1:29.83 to take first place, followed by the Bearcats (1:32.01) and Cardinals (1:32.38).

Louisville won the Men’s 200-Yard Freestyle Relay. The team of Caryle Blondell, Joao De Lucca, Thomas Dahlia, and Trevor Carrol touched the wall in 1:18.34, a pool record. Second place went to SMU, who finished in 1:19.16, with UConn swimming 1:20.96 to take third. De Lucca picked up his third gold medal of the championships in the event, having previously finished first in the 800-yard freestyle relay and the 50-yard freestyle.

The American Athletic Conference Championship continues tomorrow, Feb. 21 beginning at 10 a.m. with swimming preliminaries. Diving prelims and consolations will begin at 12:30 pm. Tomorrow’s events include the men’s 3-meter diving, 400-individual medley, 100-yard butterfly, 200-yard freestyle, 100-yard breastroke, 100-yard backstroke, and the 400-yard medley relay. Finals will be in the evening session, beginning at 6 p.m. You can watch a live stream, hosted by The American Digital Network’s Jamie Corun at www.theamerican.org/sd.
 
Men’s Team Standings
1              Louisville              345
2              SMU                     277
3              UConn                  245
4              Cincinnati             155
Women’s Team Standings
1              Louisville              376
2              SMU                    236                        
3              Rutgers                216                        
4              UConn                 191
5              Cincinnati            152
6              Houston               147
Women’s 500-Yard Freestyle
1              Jackie Keire        Cincinnati            4:43.02
2              Nina Rangelova SMU                      4:43.97
3              Abbie Houck      Louisville              4:46.11
4              Andrea Kneppers Louisville             4:46.59
5              Devon Bibault    Louisville               4:48.94
6              Abby Chin           Louisville              4:49.08
7              Joanna Wu          Rutgers                4:50.03
8              Ursa Bezan         SMU                      4:50.69
Men’s 500-Yard Freestyle
1              Chris Girg             UConn                  4:19.24
2              Trevor Carroll     Louisville                   4:19.52
3              Matthias Lindenbauer Louisville           4:23.74
4              Jake Schultz        Louisville                 4:24.53
5              Bryan Draganosky Louisville              4:26.91
6              Michael Lennon     UConn                 4:27.07
7              Joe Bott               Cincinnati            4:32.68
8              Luke Zalewski    UConn                  4:36.05 
Women’s 200-Yard IM
1              Tanja Kylliainen Louisville             1:56.34
2              Morgan Pfaff     Rutgers                 1:58.46
3              Erica Belcher      Louisville              2:00.57
4              Andrea Cottrell Louisville              2:00.74
5              Rachel Nicol        SMU                2:01.60
6              Allyson Perrotti Rutgers               2:01.89
7              Sammie Wheeler Cincinnati        2:03.76
8              Gissel Kohoyda Louisville              2:04.54
Men’s 200-Yard IM
1              Nolan Tessone  Louisville              1:45.30
2              Josh Quallen      Louisville             1:46.82
3              Nicolai Hansen  SMU                     1:47.06
4              David Bolland     Louisville              1:47.76
5              Addison Bray     Louisville              1:48.42
6              Greg Baliko         UConn                1:48.91
7              Tucker Wells      SMU                   1:49.58
8              Hunter Pasek     Cincinnati            1:51.12
Women’s 50-Yard Freestyle
1              Chinyere Pigot  UConn                  22.61
2              Marne Erasmus   SMU                  22.68
3              Krissie Brandenburg Louisville        22.73
4              Isabella Arcila     SMU                    22.80
5              Kelsi Worrell       Louisville            22.87
6              Nathalie Lindborg SMU                 22.98
7              Helena Pikhartova Cincinnati         23.04
8              Monika Babok   SMU                     23.09
Men’s 50-Yard Freestyle
1              Joao De Lucca    Louisville              19.58
2              Thomas Dahlia   Louisville              19.87
3              Ramon Melo      SMU                      19.91
4              Caryl Blondell     Louisville              19.94
5              Ziga Cerkovnik   SMU                      19.98
6              Ryan Koops        SMU                      20.29
7              Felix Samuels     UConn                  20.39
8              Kameron Chastain Louisville               20.47
Women’s 1-Meter Diving
1              Natasha Burgess Houston            289.25
2              Danielle Shedd  Houston               284.50
3              Taryn Urbanus  UConn                  270.90
4              Nicolle Scott       Rutgers                 257.55
5              Andrea Acquista Louisville           252.35
6              Emily Stalmack  Louisville              251.90
7              Alessandra Murphy Louisville     250.15
8              Ali Butera            UConn                  247.15
Women’s 200-Yard Freestyle Relay
1              SMU                    1:29:83
2              Cincinnati            1:32.01
3              Louisville              1:32.38
4              Houston               1:32.97
5              UConn                  1:33.26
6              Rutgers               1:33.70
Men’s 200-Yard Freestyle Relay
1              Louisville              1:18.34
2              SMU                      1:19.16
3              UConn                  1:20.96
4              Cincinnati            1:22.68