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