Louisville Men End NC State’s Streak, Capture The Cards’ First ACC Championship | SwimSwam

By Robert Gibbs on SwimSwam

2021 ACC Men’s Swimming Championships

• When: Wednesday, February 24th to Saturday, February 27th Prelims 10:00 am | Finals 6:00 pm (1650 prelims Saturday at 4:00 pm)
• Where: Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, North Carolina (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: North Carolina State University (NC State) (29x, 6th-straight) (results)
• Streaming: ACC Network
  • Wednesday
  • Thursday
  • Friday
  • Saturday
• Championship Central: Here
• Detailed Timeline: Here
• Psych Sheets: Here
• Live Results
• Saturday Finals Heat Sheets

In perhaps the most exciting ACC Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships in recent memory, the Louisville Cardinal men topped the NC State Wolfpack by two points to capture the Cardinals’ first ACC Championship.

The Cardinals joined the ACC in the 2014-2015 season, and under Head Coach Arthur Albiero they have been in the thick of things ever since, taking 2nd behind NC State every year from 2015-2019, then slipping to 3rd last year after getting their 200 medley relay disqualified on the first day of competition.

This year, it was NC State’s 400 medley relay disqualification last night that proved to be the difference, but that’s no slight on a powerful Cardinals team that won a total of 7 events:

Louisville Victories

• 200 Medley Relay – 1:22.71
• 200 Free Relay – 1:15.99
• 100 Breast – Evgenii Somov, 51.03
• 400 Medley Relay – 3:02.91
• 200 Back – Mitchell Whyte, 1:39.98
• 200 Breast – Evgenii Somov, 1:51.26
• 200 Fly – Nick Albiero, 1:39.08

Somov won his 4th-straight title in the 100 breast, while Albiero won match that feat in the 200 fly. Whyte won the 200 back after finishing 2nd the last two years. But what really stood out for the Cardinals was the increased contributions from some of the guys further down the roster.

Sophomore Ilia Sibirtsev came up big with a 3rd-place finish in the 1650, scoring a total of 40 points after scoring 7 last year. Tanner Cummings increased his individual points from 11 to 42, while Michael Eastman went from 27 points last year to 58 this year, and both men were a key part of Louisville’s sprint free relays. Haridi Sameh, who already had a solid showing last year as a freshman, took it to another level this year, finishing in the top three in both sprint freestyles and taking 9th in the 100 fly.

Conference Swimming Roster

• Grayson Alarcon 
• Nick Albiero – 88
• Tanner Cummings – 42
• Hayden Curley – 54
• Mihalis Deliyiannis – 28
• Michael Eastman – 58
• Tyler Klawitter 
• Aidan Kreiley – 9
• Dalton Lowe – 34
• Colton Paulson – 40
• Haridi Sameh – 75
• Ilia Sibirtsev – 40
• T.C. Smith – 21
• Nikolaos Sofianidis – 52
• Evgenii Somov – 91
• Jack Wever – 44
• Mitchell Whyte – 70
• Kyle Worrell – 13

Divers Kivanc Gur, Daniel Pinto, Logan Smith, and Adam Sneden, competing last week, combined for 120 points, which also proved to be instrumental in the team’s conference title.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Louisville Men End NC State’s Streak, Capture The Cards’ First ACC Championship