The No. 5 Louisville men and No. 3 women kept themselves firmly in the thick of the team race on day three of the Ohio State Invitational, with the men sitting second and the women third after another busy night in Columbus. Behind Indiana on the men’s side and chasing both Ohio State and Indiana on the women’s, Louisville leaned on big swims from veterans and freshmen alike to stay within striking distance heading into the final day.
Freshman backstroker Julie Mishler set the tone early, grabbing third in the women’s 100 back A-final in 51.90, with teammates Camille Murray and fellow freshman Xeniya Ignatova also landing in the top 12 to stack valuable points. On the men’s side, Rian Graham paced the Cards with a fifth-place 45.67, as Jackson Millard and Filip Kosinski followed close behind in the A-final.gocards
Breaststroke delivered one of Louisville’s biggest highlights of the night, as Mia Cheatwood out-dueled Indiana’s Maria Najji to win the women’s 200 breast, while Kim Herkle grabbed third to give the Cards a 1–3 finish. In the men’s 200 breast, Louisville’s Jake Eccleston battled into the top three with a 1:52.10, with Finnley Conklin adding a ninth-place finish to keep the points flowing.
Distance free proved steady, if not dominant, for the Cards, with Ohio State’s Mila Nikanorov pulling away in the women’s 500 while Louisville’s Daria Golovaty and Leticia Romao finished third and fourth, and Summer Cardwell adding seventh. Indiana’s Zalan Sarkany controlled the men’s 500, but Oscar Isberg and Gregg Enoch stepped up for Louisville with sixth- and eighth-place finishes, respectively.
Sprint freestyle belonged to the Cardinals. Julia Dennis secured her second win of the night by taking the women’s 50 free in 21.36, with Caroline Larsen, Mishler and Ella Welch all joining her in the A-final to pile on more top-eight points. Moments later, freshman Nikita Sheremet answered for the men, edging Yale’s Nick Finch by one-hundredth of a second in 18.95, with teammates Charlie Crush, Aiden Musso and Guy Brooks all placing inside the top nine.
Louisville closed the session with statement swims in the 400 medley relays, as the women’s A-relay of Mishler, Cheatwood, Welch and Dennis pushed Indiana to the wall and finished second in 3:28.11, while the B-relay added a fourth-place finish for extra depth. The men’s quartet of Graham, Eccleston, Musso and Brooks claimed runner-up honors in 3:03.74 behind Indiana, with the B-relay securing sixth in a tightly packed field.
On the boards, the Cards added important supporting points, with Sammantha Helmboldt placing 10th on women’s platform and three more Louisville divers reaching the C-final, while Rayce Winn and Ray Preas scored on men’s 3-meter. Combined, the swims and dives kept Louisville’s men in second with 1331.5 points and the women in third with 1404, positioning both squads for a final-day push at McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.
