Louisville Men Describe Elation of First Ever Relay Title in Program History

In the final heat, Florida freshman Adam Chaney led off in a 20.55 backstroke split, which is the 9th-fastest lead-off all-time. In the same heat, Louisville’s Evgenii Somov came in hot with a 22.87 breast split, the 13th-fastest split all-time, to put the Cardinals in the lead. Senior Nicolas Albiero held on to the narrow lead with his 20.07 fly split. Cal’s Ryan Hoffer (19.70) and Florida’s Eric Friese (19.87) were sub-20 on their fly legs, yet still could not catch Cardinal Albiero. Hoffer’s split is now the 10th-fastest split in history.

Into the freestyle leg, Cal had a three-tenths deficit behind Florida, who was 0.09s behind leader Louisville. Sophomore Haridi Sameh anchored the Cardinals in an 18.45, which was enough to win the 2021 title and break the Greensboro pool record at 1:22.11. This was also Louisville’s first NCAA relay title in program history.

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