Louisville Women Cruise To Win Against Notre Dame, Fighting Irish Set Program Record (original) (raw)
Louisville vs. Notre Dame
- November 8, 2024
- South Bend, IN
- 25 Yards (SCY)
- Score: #11 Louisville, 220 – NR Notre Dame, 78
- Full Results
The Louisville men and women split up this weekend, with the men staying home to host Purdue, while the women traveled to Notre Dame. Both the men’s and women’s programs earned wins for the Cardinals, as the women—two weeks removed from an upset over Tennessee—cruised to a 220-78 win against the Fighting Irish.
The Cardinals won all but one event in their dominant outing against Notre Dame. Caroline Larsen, Gabi Albiero, Ella Welch, and Julia Dennis got the team rolling with a season-best 1:20.70 in the 200 free relay, moving the Cardinals up to fourth in the league so far this season.
Though it wasn’t where they got their event win, the 200 freestyle relay highlighted the day for Notre Dame. Hollie Widdows, Jess Geriane, Imogen Meers, and Madelyn Christman clocked 1:27.84, kicking off the meet with a program record. The time shatters the previous mark of 1:28.81, set in 2018, by .97 seconds and moves the team to fifth in the NCAA.
While the underclassmen have led the way for the Fighting Irish through the early part of the season, the upperclassmen drove this relay. Geriane, Meers, and Christman are all seniors or grad students. Widdows, an international freshman from the UK, was the only underclassman on the relay.
Relay splits for the 200 freestyle relay are not yet available.
Transfer Mia Cheatwood continued to be a strong addition to Louisville’s roster. She swept the breaststroke races with two personal best times. In the 100 breaststroke, she swam 58.77, taking nearly a second off the 59.73 PB she set at the 2024 NCAA Championships. Her 2:07.74 is her second 200 breaststroke personal best of the season; after arriving in Louisville with a 2:09.13 best, she clocked 2:08.51 against Tennessee, then took another .77 seconds off her best this weekend. She’s now well under the 2:08.18 it took to earn a second swim at 2024 NCAAs.
Paige Hetrick, Gabi Albiero, and Daria Golovaty each won two events for the Cardinals, who earned at least a 1-2 finish in ten events. Hetrick swept the backstrokes in season-bests of 52.79/1:53.74. Albiero won the 100 free/100 fly (48.76/52.21), and the freshman Golovaty popped a personal best 1:44.93 in the 200 freestyle, then added the 500 free win in 4:43.13.
Senior Maggie Graves earned Notre Dame’s lone event win on the day. She stormed to the win in 9:50.14, winning by over seven seconds ahead of her teammate Sophia Karras. Widdows, Christman and Mary Cate Pruitt earned more top-two finishes for Notre Dame. Widdows touched second in the 100 fly with a 53.20, setting a new personal best. She chopped 1.43 seconds off her 54.63 from Oct.18, showing her continued adjustment to yards racing rather than meters.
Christman took second behind Hetrick in both backstrokes (53.48/1:56.22) and Pruitt clocked 4:47.32 to finish second in the 500 freestyle.
Other Event Winners:
- 200 butterfly: Tristen Ulett, Louisville — 1:55.90
- 100 IM: Ella Welch, Louisivlle — 54.20
- 200 medley relay: Louisville (Murray, Larsen, Barrett, Dennis) — 1:37.06
- 50 freestyle: Julia Dennis, Louisville — 21.98
- 200 IM: Fernanda Gomes Celidonio, Louisville — 1:57.50
- 400 freestyle relay: Louisville (Larsen, Dennis, Mehraban, Welch) — 3:14.94
Up Next
Louisville and Notre Dame are both headed to the Ohio State Invite from Nov. 21 – 23.
About Sophie Kaufman
Sophie grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, which means yes, she does root for the Bruins, but try not to hold that against her. At 9, she joined her local club team because her best friend convinced her it would be fun. Shoulder surgery ended her competitive swimming days long ago, …