Kelsi Worrell will go down as the most dominant swimmer in Louisville history. I have no doubt about that. After winning 2 NCAA National Championships last year, she repeated that feat this year winning the 200 and 100 fly at the NCAA Championships.
Kelsi Worrell picked up her second NCAA Championship with a win in the 200-fly to lead the University of Louisville women’s swimming and diving team to an eighth place finish at the 2016 NCAA Championships Saturday night at the McAuley Aquatic Center on the campus of Georgia Tech.
She is going to next prepare for the French Elite Nationals which are preliminary meets for the Olympics according to swimswam.com. That will be awesome for all of us to get behind her and cheer our cardinal to the gold! Below are excerpts from some of the press releases I received this weekend. Enjoy!
Georgia took their seventh crown with (414) points, followed by Stanford (395), California (358), Texas A&M (309), Virginia (264), Southern Cal (244.5), Indiana (228), Louisville (220), NCState (155) and Michigan (150) to round out the top ten.
“After seven hard-fought sessions, we finish the last one with an NCAA title after setting an NCAA Championship record in the prelims and a school record 400-free relay performance. We scored the most points in school history and we achieved our second consecutive NCAA Top 10 finish,” said Arthur Albiero.
Senior Kelsi Worrell defended her 100-fly title and set an American record as the University of Louisville women’s swimming and diving team moved into sixth place Firday night after three days of racing at the NCAA Women’s National Championships at the McAuley Aquatic Center on the campus of Georgia Tech.
Kelsi Worrell gutted out a win in the 200 fly, barely holding off Stanford’s Ella Eastin. Worrell, trying to defend her 2015 NCAA title in this event, had almost a full second margin at the halfway mark. Worrell, out well under American and NCAA record pace at the 150 had to contend with a determined Eastin, who won the 200 free and 400 individual medley at the this meet. The Stanford freshman cut into Worrell’s lead in the final lap, but the ACC Most Valuable Swimmer touched in 1:50.96 just ahead of Eastin’s 1:51.04. Worrell’s time ranks as the third-fastest swim of all-time and, with the win, she completed a two-year sweep of the NCAA butterfly events.
The Cards also scored a silver and a bronze in a record breaking finals session.
“What an incredible session,” said UofL head coach Arthur Albiero. “Definitely one of the best sessions I have experienced as a coach. Three individual A-finals along with a third place in the 200-medley relay with two freshman on the squad made for a special night.
After coming within .07 of her own American record in prelims, Louisville senior Kelsi Worrell powered past that mark in the finals, going 49.43 to push closer to the 49-second barrier being the first-ever woman to go under 50-second, a milestome she hit for the first time in history at last year’s NCAAs. She split 23.09 in the first 50 yards, almost half a second faster than she took out her record-setting race last year and then got into the wall in 49.43, an ACC and school record.
“Kelsi breaking her own American record by almost four-tenths of a second was definitely special. She now has eight of the all-time top ten performances in that event in the NCAA. She delivered a dominant performance over a very talented field.”
Indiana freshman Lilly King earned the night’s second American record, going 56.85 to become the first woman ever under 57 in a flat-start 100 breaststroke. Louisville’s Andrea Cottrell (58.78) stouched sixth in a blazing fast field.
“Andrea Cottrell was in her first career NCAA A-final tonight and scored valuable points for us by finishing sixth,” said Albiero.
Louisville freshman Mallory Comerford turned heads when the rookie boarded a 1:42.54 for the silver medal chasing down Georgia’s Brittany MacLean, who won in 1:42.42.
“Even though Mallory is a freshman, she performed with great poise and came within a touch of winning the 200-freestyle,” said Albiero.
The Cardinals touched third in the Louisville took third with a 1:35.36 behind Stanford (1:34.81) and California (1:35.11). Worrell put up a 22.55 fly leg which was slightly slower than her 21.9 from last year, which was the fastest fly split in history, but still had the fastest split of the field in the fly leg. Louisville beat out ACC rivals Virginia’s 1:35.80.
Diver Andrea finished with 288.4 points total and 33rd place in the 3-meter diving.
After that gritty performance in the fly, Worrell was the lead off swimmer in the next event, the 400-freestyle and put up the fastest split for Louisville. The Cards touched seventh in a school record 3:13.21 put up by Worrell (47.33), Andrea Kneppers (48.88), Mallory Comerford (47.76) and Alex Sellers (49.24).
“I am very proud of this group of ladies,” said Albiero. “I am very proud of this group of ladies. We are grateful for the leadership from our seniors Andrea Kneppers and Kelsi Worrell. They have played a major role in our program growth into the national elite.”
Top Ten Times in the 200 butterfly
1 1:49.92 Elaine Breeden Stanford 2/28/09
2 1:50.61p Kelsi Worrell Louisville 3/19/216
3 1:50.96 Kelsi Worrell Louisville 3/19/16
4 1:50.98 Elaine Breeden Stanford TAMU 3/21/09
5 1:51.02 Katinka Hosszu USC 12/2/10
6 1:51.03 Katinka Hosszu USC Austin, Texas 12/1/11
7 1:51.04 Ella Eastin Stanford 3/19/16
8 1:51.11 Kelsi Worrell Louisville 3/21/15
9 1:51.18 Kathleen Hersey Texas TAMU 3/21/09
10 1:51.28 Mary DeScenza Bulldog Long Beach, Calif. 1/17/09
