Track and Field Qualifiers -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Five Headed to Oregon So Far

With Louisville track and field in Jacksonville for the NCAA regional, they've been having some success heading into the final day of competition. The Cards opened Thursday with a day one qualifier in Synclair Savage. Savage set a program record with her mark in the long jump. It was a good return to the NCAA event after she missed last season due to injury, as Savage broke her own record previously set in 2023. Day one also saw Kiyah Yeast qualify for the 200m quarterfinal sprint. Her 100m opening heat didn't go her way so she has just the one event to focus on today. 

Photo by Mallory Peak, UofL

Competition was suspended due to weather in the afternoon, so the Friday schedule was a little compressed. Friday saw Louisville add four more athletes to their qualification list for the national meet in Oregon, with two of those on the women's side. First up was Ashley Callahan, who shook off the fact that pole vault was suspended in the middle of the event to advance to the outdoor championships for the first time in her career. It is the seventh straight year that Louisville has a had a female representative in the outdoor championship pole vault meet. Callahan was joined in qualification by Jaden Ulrich, who threw a good-enough 58-11.5 shot put effort to finish third in the event. It wasn't her best throw and she'll be disappointed with third in Oregon, but that's where they hand out the medals, so she met her goal of qualifying from regionals. 

Ulrich will be one of quite a few female Cards in action today, as most of the women's events were scheduled for today to begin with. She'll be trying to become Louisville's first athlete to qualify for multiple events in back-to-back seasons since 2017 when she throws discus this afternoon. Also competing today are Sophia Day and Sharvari Parulekar in the triple jump, Soledad Jean in the high jump, Layla Roebke in the 3000m Steeplechase, Yeast in the 200m, and Olivia Alessandrini in the 5000m. The field events won't be televised, but starting at 5pm, you can check out ESPN+ for coverage of the track events. 

CCHRP Hiatus Continues

As I mentioned earlier this week, we're still out for various reasons. It's been an inconsistent May for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast, but we'll do our best to get back on track starting next week. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards Set for NCAA T&F Regionals -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Ten Women Headed to Jacksonville

Louisville women's track and field is coming off a team runner-up finish at the ACC championships, which makes it no surprise that they would send a big contingent to the NCAA Regional meet. This year, the East Region will compete in Jacksonville, FL from May 28 to May 31. The group will, of course, include Jayden Ulrich, who maintains her position on the watchlist for The Bowerman award following conference tournaments. The Bowerman is the top prize in track and field, awarded to the most outstanding male and female athletes each season. Ulrich was the first Cardinal to ever be named to a watchlist earlier this year, and she has held that spot on each subsequent release. 

Ulrich will compete in two events in Jacksonville, which is really no surprise, since she took the gold in both Shot Put and Discus for the ACC. She'll be joined in the Discus event by Jade Whitfield. Two other Cardinals qualified for a pair of events themselves: Kiyah Yeast in the 100m and 200m sprints, and Sophia Day in the Long Jump and Triple Jump. Day will be joined by Synclair Savage and Sharvari Parulekar in those events, respectively. 

Two Cards will also take on the Pole Vault, as Ashley Callahan and Iliana Triantafyllou both qualified. Each other competitor from UofL is a sole entrant in their event as the remainder of the representatives are Olivia Alessandrini (5000m), Layla Roebke (3000m Steeplechase), and Soledad Jean (High Jump). In all, ten Cardinals represent 14 entrants across ten events. Best of luck to all of them as the event gets underway following Memorial Day weekend. 

No CCRHP This Week

Speaking of Memorial Day weekend, we'll take this week off again from the podcast with a return on the schedule for next week. If something changes, we'll let you know. 

Have a safe and happy holiday!

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

T&F at Outdoor ACC Championships -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Ulrich Among ACC Champs Again

It has been a strong weekend for Louisville at the ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. So far, the Cards have picked up two gold medals, while also bringing in a heap of other podiums entering the final day of the event. Jayden Ulrich defended her shot put title by winning the event with a throw that bested the remainder of the field by almost a meter. She has a chance to take the double again later today in the women's discus event. Ulrich will have her eyes on the pair of ACC golds as well as strong performances in the national meet in a few weeks. 

The men's team holds the other gold medal so far, with Paul Kallenberg taking the men's decathlon gold and Louisville getting a 1-2 finish with KJ Byrd finishing as the runner up. The men also got podiums in shot put and pole vault to sit in 3rd overall in the competition. 

The women's team is currently first overall. In addition to Ulrich's gold, Louisville has earned silver medals from Ashley Callahan (pole vault), Layla Roebke (3000m steeplechase), and Synclair Savage (long jump). Lucy Fellows finished third in the women's heptathlon, earning a personal best in four of the seven events along the way. Kiyah Yeast will contest two finals today, having earned school records in both the 200m and 100m sprints. She had the second-fastest qualifying time in the 200 and the third-fastest in the 100 in the prelim races.

Louisville will look to hold their lead with discus, high jump, and Yeast's sprints among their top point-scoring opportunities. Events begin at 2PM eastern and can be streamed on ACCNX. 

No Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

The CCRHP will take a brief hiatus over the next two weeks. Hosts are scattered to the wind this week and next week is Memorial Day Weekend. We're looking to return to action on May 31st, but we'll be sure to let you know if things change. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Yeast Runs Into Record Books -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Indoor Track and Field Seeing Success

The Cards are once again in the midst of competing in the Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center for three straight events hosted by three different schools. This weekend, they're participating in UK's Rod McCravy Memorial Invitational. The event began in the snow yesterday and will wrap up starting today at 11am. 

Yesterday saw Louisville pick up eight individual top-five finishes, with two event wins. Surprisingly, Kiyah Yeast didn't pick up one of those top-five finishes, despite a 38.19 in the 300m that took almost two seconds off her personal best and beat the previous school record of 39.10 (Je'Nyia Burton; 2022) by almost a second. Yeast finished just 0.15s behind UCF's Twaniese Johnson in 5th and just 0.71s behind the winner, UK's Oneika McAnnuff.

The Cards' victories came from familiar names in Soledad Jean and Synclair Savage. Both won in the events you may expect, with Savage taking the win in the long jump with a 6.24m leap which would be top 5 in the country and best in the ACC before the meet. Jean, meanwhile, made her season debut in the high jump and cleared 1.75m in her victory. 

Other jumps saw Natalie Lark finish second in the pole vault with Paris Bond (pb for PB) coming home in fourth. On the track, McKenzie Bell ran a 1:33.24 in the 600m to place third and take the second fastest time in program history. Jalasia Lewis took fourth in the event with a 1:37.80. The last top five finisher in a final was Jade Whitfield, with a fifth place finish in the women's weight throw. Olivia Jenkins won her heat in the women's 60m sprint to advance to today's semifinals. 

Pro VolleyCards

As Jeff mentioned yesterday, a number of Cardinals were making their season or career debuts in professional volleyball last night. It went better for some than it did for others. 

In LOVB, Anna Hall and Claire Chaussee's Madison squad was swept by Austin. Hall had two kills on 11 attempts but led the team with three blocks. Chaussee had a bit more success offensively, though not a ton. She was 8/25 with three errors (two blocked). Austin outhit Madison .247 to .093. 

On the PVF side, Aiko Jones and the Atlanta Vibe fell in five sets to the Omaha Supernovas. Jones was hitting into a brick wall, unfortunately, with three blocked hits on four attack attempts. I promised it went well for someone, though, and that was Charitie Luper in the Vegas Thrill vs Grand Rapids Rise match. The Thrill won in reverse sweep fashion, and it was Luper leading the way. In a manner not unfamiliar to her, Luper led all hitters with 18 kills on 50 attempts. She had just three errors and two were blocked. She also added a block of her own, had 15 digs, and dropped in an ace. If you were curious whether Luper's dominance was limited to a Cardinal uniform... it isn't. 

As Jeff mentioned, the remainder of the pro cards will be in action tonight, with Elena Scott and Anna DeBeer playing for Indy and Tori Stringer and Wilma Rivera playing for Columbus. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

I'm back after a couple of weeks off, and we'll have four on the call today for the first time in a bit. We'll talk basketball, volleyball, and some odds and ends. Spring sports are just around the corner, and schedules are being released. 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

Spotify: Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

T&F Championships and Softball Brings in a Star -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Finish Up Track and Field Championships

Photo via UofL Athletics

Though the team didn't have as much success as they may have hoped in each individual event, Louisville women's track and field had a strong showing at the NCAA Championship meet for track and field. Synclair Savage was the headliner for the team, scoring eighth place in the long jump to earn Louisville a point. That point represented just the ninth time in program history that Louisville's women's team has scored a point at the national championship competition. It was Savage's second First Team All-American nod of the year, as she also earned the title in the indoor season. Aliyah Welter finished 12th in the pole vault, good for Second Team AA honors. The mark was her best finish at the championship meet and she became one of just eight Louisville athletes to qualify for the outdoor national meet three separate times. The 4x100m team of Taylor Herbert, Kiyah Yeast, Tiriah Kelley, and Synclair Savage was granted an Honorable Mention AA award. Through the heats at the event, the squad ran four of the five fastest relays in Louisville history.

Brooke Gray Named POTY

Louisville softball has known they would be adding Brooke Gray to the roster for quite some time. We've also known she was very good for awhile. It's now the time of year when everyone else is getting the opportunity to see how good she is. Ballard is going for a repeat in the state championship and they've got a good chance as they're 34-1 this season. Gray is 27-0 with a 0.68 ERA. That sterling record, along with a GPA over 3.0, got the attention of the award committee at Gatorade, as Gray has been named the Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year. By winning the state award, Gray is automatically added to the semifinalist list for the national award. Gray will come into a Louisville pitching staff looking to fill a Louisville-area native sized void. We're looking forward to seeing her in red and black next year. I'm sure the stands will be packed with local fans, though the wardrobe won't match quite as well from Ballard as it did for the Roby family coming from Bullitt East. We wish the best of luck to Gray as the tournament continues and the final award is decided.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Coverage may be a little sparse and the crew might be a bit light today, but the show endeavors onward. After a late announcement of the tri-city neighborhood yard sale (Bancroft, Graymoor-Devondale, and Crossgate) being today, my hiatus from the show starts a little earlier than I expected. I'll be back eventually. 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