Virginia Splits ACC Dual Meet with Louisville
LOUISVILLE, Ky.- The Virginia men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams concluded a two-day dual meet against Louisville on Saturday (Nov. 3), splitting the result with the Cardinals. The No. 7 Virginia women’s team topped No. 8 Louisville, 214-137, while the No. 16 Cavalier men fell to the No. 13 Cardinals, 214-139.
“We came out of this dual meet in Louisville with plenty of the season-best swims, the women topping Louisville, the men with the loss but most impressively was the hype our team brought to the deck,” head coach Todd DeSorbo said. “This is a great indicator for the ACCs. The Cavaliers aren’t swimming scared and won’t back down from any battle. Today alone, our women won nine out of 10 events, which was extremely impressive. Our men put up a good fight and we feel our depth will be a huge factor come February. I’m proud to leave Louisville with these results, but now we go back to work as usual.”
The Cavalier women controlled the day’s performance, recording a first-place finish in all but one race. Additionally, the team captured the top three times in two different individual events, the 400-yard individual medley led by senior Rachel Politi (Bexley, Ohio) with a time of 4:19.34 and the 200-yard breaststroke led by freshman Kaki Christensen (Darien, Conn.) with a time of 2:14.43.
Junior Morgan Hill (Olney, Md.) recorded the nation’s ninth-fastest time this season in the 100-yard butterfly, reaching the wall for first place with a time of 53.33. A few events later, she swam a time of 22.88 for first place in the 50-yard freestyle.
Sophomore Paige Madden (Mobile, Ala.) placed first in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:46.87 as sophomore Emma Seiberlich (Audubon, Pa.) finished first in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 54.49.
Continuing her dominance on the 3m board, junior Sydney Dusel (Naperville, Ill.) recorded a career-best score of 342.30 for her fourth consecutive win this season in the event.
The women’s team swept today’s relay events with sophomore Caroline Gmelich (Rumson, N.J.), freshman Alexis Wenger (Detroit, Mich.), sophomore Anna Pang (London) and senior Eryn Eddy (Loveland, Colo.) winning the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:39.83 and the team of Hill, Pang, sophomore Kyla Valls (Miami, Fla.) and Eddy winning the 400-yard freestyle with a time of 3:19.21.
In the men’s competition, sophomores Matthew Otto (Newark, Del.) and Samuel Schilling (Excelsior, Minn.) each won individual events for the Cavaliers. Otto led a Virginia 1-2-3 finish in the 200-yard breaststroke, finishing the event with a time of 1:59.25. Schilling paced the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:38.20.
Junior Bryce Shelton (Vienna, Va.) captured a win on the 1m board. He recorded a score of 3:18.68 for the victory.
Additionally, redshirt senior Brendan Casey (Santa Monica, Calif.) recorded the second-fastest time nationally this season in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 15:13.13. He placed second to Louisville’s Marcelo Acosta who took this year’s top time at 15:08.35. Senior Bryce Keblish (Fairfield, Conn.) finished second with a time of 47.41 in the 100-yard butterfly, ranking eighth nationally with the time.
“We want to thank Louisville for being gracious hosts and challenging competitors,” DeSorbo said. “I always enjoy competing against the nation’s best and looking forward to making this a tradition. The ACC is one of, if not the strongest, conference in the country, and this dual (meet) is evidence of that.”
Next, the Cavaliers will send members to the ACC/Big Ten Challenge (Nov. 10-11) at Purdue’s Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center in West Lafayette, Ind. The Cavaliers will have 12 student-athletes compete in the meet alongside DeSorbo, who will serve as head coach for the ACC women’s team.