Olympic Cards in Action -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Track and Field Host PNC Lenny Lyles Invitational

As has become a bit of a norm moving through the late winter sports season, Saturday is a look at Louisville's Olympic sports. The Cards are at home in the Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center again this week, as I mentioned in last week's post, for the PNC Lenny Lyles Invitational. After an extremely strong showing last week, Louisville's women's side has been a bit more muted as far as ultimate results go, but a full day of events remains. 

Fellows in action (by Taris Smith, UofL)

Louisville posted five podiums yesterday collectively, but only one came on the women's side. Freshman Lucy Fellows finished second in the pentathlon, the first combined opportunity of the season. Fellows put up personal bests in the 60m hurdles and the shot put and led the field in shot put and long jump. 

Other strong performances came from Lydia Stuart, Zoe Yeast, and Maddie Seaby. Seaby, a freshman, was making her debut on track, where she took fifth place in the 3000m. Yeast also took fifth in the weight throw. Stuart put up a personal best in the seeded pole vault, clearing 4.03m to take fourth place.

Events continue today beginning at 10am.

Swimming & Diving Hosts UK

I talked a bit about Louisville's swimming and diving meet earlier this week in the media day writeup. Diving coach Ryan Rougeux and Lindsay Gizzi were excited to bring in the Wildcats this weekend because of the atmosphere Louisville fans create at the Ralph Wright Natatorium. If you'd like to be a part of that, head on down to Floyd Street early this afternoon. Despite a bit of confusion on the gocards site, the meet officially gets underway at 1PM. Louisville women are ranked 8th (men 15th) in the country, and the Cards are coming off a decent break, having last competed on January 5th. Louisville swept Mizzou at the Wright to open the year. 

UK last competed a week later, when they were narrowly defeated by Alabama on both sides (men: 175-144, women: 163-156). Based on the results so far this year, Louisville should have a significant advantage in this one, but just like any other sport, weird things can happen when you compete against your rival. It's a little unclear if Louisville will have Else Praasterink aiding the diving side today. Praasterink took gold in the 10m platform dive in Germany on January 19th, and she'll participate in the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar which take place from February 2nd through the 18th. With diving events happening in the front half of that schedule, I would not be surprised if Else was already getting settled at the location of that event.

At any rate, whichever athletes are in attendance for the Cards today, you can be certain they'll be giving it their all. There is a "different air" around the program in an Olympic year, and everyone's desire to show out is heightened. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

With another midday home game for the Louisville men's basketball team, we'll be without Jared for the show this week. However, we will have Daryl, Jeff, and myself on board to bring you the joy and excitement of Louisville women's athletics. We'll talk about the down and up week for Louisville women's basketball, touch on the media day proceedings, and hear a bit from Jeff on what's happening in the Pro Volleyball Federation. As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

More Smart Cards and Pro Cards -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

T&F and Rowing Athletes Earn Academic All-District Honors

The College Sports Communicators (CSC) continues to field its academic all district teams, with track and field and rowing the latest sports to be announced. As with any other CSC All-District athletes, these six will advance to the ballot to be named to the CSC Academic All-America teams. 

The latest Cards to join the ranks of those lists are Soledad Jean, Carly Pujol, Synclair Savage, Aliyah Welter, and Zoe Yeast of the track and field squad and Ellee Grosser of the rowing team. None of these athletes are strangers to academic accolades. 

Jean was named to the All-ACC Academic Honor Roll last season and made it to the NCAA Regional Round in the high jump. Pujol also made it to the regionals this year in the pole vault and has been named to the All-ACC Academic Honor Roll three times. She was on the USTFCCCA All-Academic team in 2021. Savage is headed to the NCAA Championship meet in long jump and is the anchor for Louisville's 4x100 team. She made the All-ACC Outdoor Academic Team last year and was named to the Honor Roll. Welter will be in Austin next week for the third straight year trying to win a championship in pole vault. She graduated in 2022 and has been competing while pursuing an MBA. She was twice on the USTFCCCA All-Academic team, earned the ACC Postgraduate Scholarship this year, and was named to the Honor Roll four times and the All-ACC Academic Team a whopping five times. Yeast bowed out of competition at the ACC Championships where she competed in discus and hammer throws. She has been named to the Honor Roll twice.

We don't talk a lot about individuals on the rowing team because it is a team sport where individual performance is hardly considered. Ellee Grosser is one of those individuals who has a special role on the team, as she is a coxswain, the team member that "drives" the boat while everyone else rows. Grosser is the coxswain for Louisville's First Varsity Eight boat, making her effectively the team captain. Her academic accolades are too numerous to list here. You can check out the gocards site for the exhaustive list if you'd like. Grosser has maintained a 4.0 GPA through four years while majoring in "molecular and cellular in developmental biology". So... yeah. I barely made it through my two required chemistry classes and, fortunately, organic chemistry wasn't on my flight plan. My last biology class was during freshman year of high school. Major props to Grosser, who could manage an extremely difficult major along with the rigors of athletics and still pull out a perfect academic record.

WBB Cards in the Pros

All three of Louisville's representatives in the WNBA were in action last night, with two seeing time on the floor and two picking up team wins. Myisha Hines-Allen still hasn't returned to the court for the Mystics, but Washington snuck out a one-point victory over the Dallas Wings. The Mystics led by two with six seconds to go when they were fouled and sank both free throws. A buzzer beating three by Dallas set the final score of 75-74.

Chicago also played a one-point game, but Dana Evans' Sky team was on the losing end of this one, with the Liberty taking the 77-76 win. Evans played just under 15 minutes, the most of a non-starter for Chicago, but she was only able to score six on two of six shooting with a made free throw. She dished out three assists but added two fouls and two turnovers. 

AD had their biggest game of the year for the Dream, who tried to swamp the Las Vegas Aces with depth, but their 13 points weren't enough as the Dream fell 92-87. AD added a rebound and an assist with no fouls and no turnovers in 12 minutes. They were 5-7 from the floor and 3-4 from beyond the arc. Vegas's win gives them the longest win streak to open a season by a defending champion (five) since the Lynx won their first 13 games in 2016.

In other pro Cards news, Mo Reid was named the MVP of the Saudie League while helping her team to a league championship. Two more Cards signed pro contracts as well, with Norika Konno returning home to play for the Denso Iris in the Women's Japan Basketball League and Liz Dixon signing with the Connecticut Sun. Dixon played 31 minutes over three games on an emergency replacement contract with the Mercury last month. The contract with the Sun is so new that we aren't able to confirm all of the details yet. Congratulations to all the Cards in the pros!

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll be short a player or two today but three is enough to field a team. The summer slump is just about fully on us, with just the track and field national championships remaining on the competition calendar coming up next week. We'll find our way through today's show, though, so be sure to join us. As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards Open Cardinal Classic with Wins -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville has Strong Day 1 at Cardinal Classic

After a fairly good start at the Commonwealth College Opener last month, Louisville looked to carry those good vibes into their "home" facility at the Norton Sports and Learning Complex. The Cards brought in Texas, Miami (FL), Cincinnati, Bellarmine, and Xavier for the weekend. Texas is a strong opponent, as they are the reigning indoor track and field champions and runners up in men's and women's, respectively. 

Photo by Taris Smith, UofL

Day one was impressive for the Louisville women, as they picked up three event wins. Those wins were headlined by a Synclair Savage victory in the long jump in which she set the new school record of 6.44m (21' 1-1/2"). That beats the previous record of 6.27m (20' 7") set by Alexis Gibbons in 2018. Interestingly, Texas's Ackelia Smith did not participate in the event. Smith, a freshman, landed 15th on the all-time NCAA record list with a 6.73m (22' 1") jump in December.

The second big event for Louisville was none other than the pole vault. You may remember that the Cards had a pretty good performer in that category. While Gabriela Leon has moved on from UofL, the team competed as if she was right there with them. Louisville swept the top four places in the event, with Aliyah Welter winning her second pole vault event in as many tries this indoor season. She was followed by Lily Fleetwood and Carly Pujol putting up personal bests to get on the podium and Auriane Viola just beind. While there were only 10 participants in the pole vault, Louisville held five of the top six spots. Only one jumper from Texas joined the fray, while both of Miami's jumpers faulted. 

The last event win of the day went to Zoe Yeast. She and Tiana Bazie, who finished fifth, threw personal bests, while Katherine Coffey split them for third in the weight throw. The weight throw is another event in which Louisville has had major success, so seeing a number of performers on the results list is encouraging for the year ahead. 

The event does not appear to be scored on the team level, but every event counts when working to make qualifications for later inclusion in tournaments. The teams will return to action today at 10AM. Admission is free, while parking is $5. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

After a last minute change in plans, I'll be out again this week, but the show must go on. The rest of the crew will be in the house to discuss the week that was. They'll cover the women's basketball win over Pitt, the loss to VT, and take a look at the bounceback opportunity in Tallahassee. As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case