Almost two weeks after battling Northwestern to only the second tie in the program’s 56-year history, the Irish will travel to No. 8 Louisville to face off against the Cardinals.
The Irish (4-4-1) have won three of the last five meetings against the Cardinals (4-2) while both teams were still members of the Big East conference.
The Cardinals blew past 234-65 Cincinnati their last time out on Jan. 11.
Notre Dame will look for strong performances out of swimmers such as junior John Williamson, an All-American whose time of 1:47.91 in the 200-yard butterfly against Northwestern netted him an NCAA B-cut. Elsewhere, junior Cameron Miller also qualified for an NCAA B-cut with a sizzling time of 55.08 in the 100-yard breaststroke against Northwestern. Other standout individual performances included freshman diver Joe Coumos, who swept both the one meter and three meter diving events, chalking up 311.80 points in the one-meter and 339.50 points in the three-meter.
In particular, the Irish face strong competition in Cardinals senior Joao De Lucca, who placed first against Cincinnati in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:39.14. As a junior, he won the NCAA championship in the same event with a time of 1:31.51, the third-fastest time for the event in NCAA history. De Lucca also put up a B-cut qualifying time in the 100-yard freestyle against Cincinnati with a time of 43:87.
The Cardinals have also drawn strong performances early this season from freshman Grigory Tarasevitch, who recorded a time of 47.41 in the 100-yard backstroke during the SMU Classic on January 17. Tarasevitch was also part of the Cardinals 400-yard medley relay event at the classic, recording a split time of 47.95 as part of the Cardinals’ third-place finishing time of 3:11.08.
This meet, along with the annual Shamrock Invitational on Jan. 31 and a dual meet against Cleveland State on Feb. 8, is the last bit of competition the Irish have before taking part in their first ACC Championship, which takes place over the week beginning Feb. 26.
The Irish take on the Cardinals in Louisville, Ky., on Friday. The meet is set to begin at 4 p.m.
