Swimming Faces Off in Pair of Duals this Weekend

Friday, October 21

Louisville, Ky.

1 P.M.

Xavier University

Louisville

Swimming Faces Off in Pair of Duals this Weekend

10.20.16 | Swimming

Louisville Swimming Miami Swimming

Musketeers travel to Louisville Friday, Miami (Ohio) on Saturday

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI - Xavier men's and women's swimming will travel to a pair of regional competitors for the first dual meets of the season this weekend, facing off with Louisville on Friday before traveling to Miami on Saturday.

MEET INFORMATION

Xavier at Louisville
Ralph Wright Natatorium | Louisville, Ky.
Friday, Oct. 21 - 1:00 p.m.

Xavier at Miami (Ohio)
Corwin M. Nixon Aquatic Center | Oxford, Ohio
Saturday, Oct. 22 -1:00 p.m.

THE OPPONENT: LOUISVILLE

LOUISVILLE CARDINALS
Louisville, Ky. | ACC
Last Meeting: Oct. 9, 2015

The Cardinal women return two Olympic time trial qualifiers, Mallory Comerford and Andrea Cottrell. Cottrell is the reigning ACC Swimmer of the Week.
UofL opened the season at Michigan, with the men falling 283-188 and the women falling 266-205 against the reigning Big Ten Champions in a three-session meet.
The UofL women also traveled to the SMU Classic. The Cardinals took second, finishing a point behind winner Michigan's total of 325. UofL took the top spot in seven races at the two-day competition.

LAST YEAR VS. THE CARDS

The Cardinals swept last season's meet at UofL, with the Xavier women falling 173-83 and the men falling 179-78.
The Xavier women had three score in the 1000 free, 2016 graduate Mackenna Rife and returnees Taylor Jach and Jenna Wilkes.
Paxtyn Drew posted the third-fastest time in the 200 back stroke, followed in by Caroline Gaertner. Drew and Gaernter also scored for the Musketeers in the 100 back.
Alex Wolfred and Nick Strader both scored in the 1000 free, with Wolfred placing third.
Rodrigo Suriano took the fourth spot in the 50 free, just behind 2016 Xavier graduate Luke Johanns.
The Xavier men's A team took second in the 400 free relay, being narrowly out-touched by UofL's A team. The top two finishes were are a full six seconds faster than the next closest finishers.

THE OPPONENT: MIAMI

MIAMI REDHAWKS
Oxford, Ohio | MAC
Last Meeting: Oct. 17, 2015

Miami opened it's season against Wright State, picking up a pair of wins, 190-51 for the women and 131-110 for the men.
The Miami men won seven events, led by Nicholas Wukovits' pair of individual wins in the 100 back and 400 IM.
The Redhawk women took the top spot in 12 events, with Ella Moynihan winning a pair of individual golds in the 200 free and 500 free, as well taking part in the 200 free relay.

LAST YEAR VS. THE REDHAWKS

The Musketeers fell at the meet at Miami last season, with the men scoring 98 to MU's 159 and the women falling 144-96.
Katie Kerr, Jenna Wilkes and Taylor Jach took three of the top five spots in the women's 1,000 free as the Musketeers fell to the Redhawks last season.
Rodrigo Suriano took the top spot in the 100 free, second place in the 50 free and swam the backstroke leg of the gold-medal winning 400 medley relay

LAST TIME OUT (WOMEN)

The Xavier picked up a pair of wins over BIG EAST opponents Seton Hall and Butler, while falling to hosts WVU at the Big 12 vs. BIG EAST Weekend.
In the first event of the meet, Paxtyn Drew, Becca Titterton, Caroline Gaertner and Emily Conners took second in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:46.97.
Titterton also picked up the top individual finish of the opening session for the women, taking third in the 200 breast with a time of 1:08.08.
Xavier opened the second day with a win in the 200 free relay, with Emily Conners, Abby Garner, Caroline Gaertner and Paxtyn Drew touching the wall in 1:37.43.
Freshman Emily Conners added a pair of individual wins, taking the top spot in the 50 free and 100 free.

LAST TIME OUT (MEN)

Xavier's men opened the meet at WVU with the top spot in the 200 medley relay with Sam Johanns, Matthew Dyer, Knox Hitt and Rodrigo Suriano setting a time of 1:34.36, touching the wall .10 seconds faster than WVU.
Dyer also picked up a top-two finish in the 100 breast with a time of 58.44.
On day two, Dyer continued his strong performance from Friday night, playing second in the 200 back and helping Xavier take third in the 400 medley relay.
Rodrigo Suriano picked up a pair of runner-up finishes in the 50 free and the 100 free.
Alex Wolfred took second in the the 1,650 free and set the 11th fastest time in program history.

WEEKLY AWARDS

Freshman Emily Conners was named the women's BIG EAST Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Week by the conference on Tuesday. In addition to picking up the first honor of the season from the conference office, Conners was also named CollegeSwimming.com's female BIG EAST Swimmer of the Week.
Conners picked up a pair of wins in freestyle sprints over the weekend at the Big 12 vs. BIG EAST Weekend at West Virginia University last Friday and Saturday. Conners' first individual win came in the 50 free, where she touched the wall in 24.50.
Conners also took the top spot in the 100 free with a BIG EAST qualifying time of 53.12, out-touching her Mountaineer opponent by half a second. Her 100 free time stands in the top 20 times in Xavier's record book.
The native of Sunfish Lake, Minn. also took part in four relays for the Musketeers, including swimming the first leg for the first place 200 free relay which finished in 1:37.43, and took the third leg of the 400 free relay that placed second with a time of 3:33.78. Conners took the freestyle leg for the 200 and 400 medley relays, both of which took second with times of 1:46.97 and 3:55.37, respectively.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

Xavier opens its home schedule next weekend when the Musketeers host the Bowling Green. The Musketeers and the Falcons will face off on Friday, Oct. 28 at 5:00 p.m. at the O'Connor Sports Center.