The College Swimming League (CSL) kicked off its first-ever meet on Thursday, Sept. 24, in Westmont, Ill.
Indiana won the meet with a score of 575.5, followed by Louisville (451.5), Michigan (420.5) and Ohio State (250.5). The scores are from the men’s and women’s events combined.
It was a fast-paced meet with 30 events plus individual and relay skins – where the field gets narrowed race by race until there is a winner.
It was split into five sections.
CSL Section 1
Indiana’s Miranda Grana won the 200-yard backstroke in 1:49.54, followed by Louisville’s Mary Clarke (1:54.12) and Michigan’s Haley McDonald (1:54.23).
Indiana swept the event with Raekwon Noel winning the men’s race in 1:39.02 ahead of Louisville’s Filip Kosinski (1:39.82) and IU teammate David Kovacs (1:41.98).
Louisville’s Anastasia Gorbenko won the 200 breaststroke in 2:06.32, well ahead of the field. Indiana’s Anita Bottazzo was second in 2:10.32, followed by Louisville’s Anna Inagaki (2:10.51).
Indiana’s Josh Bey won the 200 breast, leading a 1-2 Hoosier finish with Toby Barnett. Bey touched the wall in 1:52.46 and Barnett in 1:54.18. Louisville’s Finnley Conklin took third in 1:54.30.
Michigan’s Hannah Bellard held off the field to win the 500 free, reaching the wall in 4:36.54. Indiana’s Elizabeth Eichbrecht was second in 4:38.07, ahead of Louisville’s Thilda Haell (4:38.89).
The Wolverines earned the event sweep with Lorne Wigginton winning the men’s race in 4:15.58, just holding off Indiana’s Aaron Shackell (4:15.69) in one of the first exciting races of the college season. Louisville’ Oscar Isberg was third in 4:19.04.
The first relay of the meet was the 200 free relay and the Hoosiers showed their speed. Liberty Clark, Miranda Grana, Grace Hoeper and Kristina Paegle won in 1:26.35. Louisville was second in 1:26.75 behind Caroline Larsen, Julie Mishler, Angelina Solari and Daria Golovaty. Michigan’s Bella Sims, Stephanie Balduccini, Lexi Greenhawt and Leilani Fack took third in 1:27.23.
The men’s 200 free relay victory went to Louisville as Nikita Sheremet, Aiden Musso, Aidan Kaplan and Rian Graham got to the wall in 1:16.95. Ohio State’s Matthew Klinge, Chris Weeks, Mike Robinson and Ahmed Ismail took second in 1:17.42, ahead of Indiana’s Raekwon Noel, Vidar Carlbaum, Dylan Smiley and Miroslav Knedla (1:17.80).
CSL Section 2
Indiana’s Alex Shackell threw down a 1:52.24 to win the 200 butterfly in a battle that could repeat in the NCAA finals. Michigan’s Hannah Bellard was second in 1:53.53, ahead of teammate Montse Spielmann (1:57.40).
Wigginton (1:43.38) held off Andrew Shackell (1:44.80) again, this time to win the 200 butterfly. Michigan’s Aiden Moy was third (1:44.90).
Gorbenko took the 100 IM in 51.22, holding off Sims (52.69) and Larsen (53.05).
Michigan’s Colin Geer won the men’s 100 IM (47.08), ahead of Knedla (47.84) and Graham (48.24).
Grana earned her second victory of the meet with a 50.90 in the 100 back. Greenhawt (51.04) and Louisville’s Camille Murray (52.26) followed.
Noel won the 100 back 45.71, ahead of Kosinski and OSU’s Joseph Roth (47.39).
Clark won the 100 free in 46.60, ahead of OSU’s Rachel Bockrath (48.07) and Paegle (48.09).
Michigan’s Antoine Sauve raced to the 100 free win in 42.97, holding off Indiana’s Vidar Carlbaum (43.34) and Michigan’s Ole Eidam (43.83).
CSL Individual Skins
The women’s 50 free skins started the next part of the meet.
Louisville’s Caroline Larsen won the first race (23.19), the second (23.63) before Alex Shackell won the third race in 23.57 ahead of Anastasia Gorbenko (24.00). Shackell won the final in 23.2 head-to-head with Gorbenko (24.75).
In the men’s race, Louisville’s Nikita Sheremet won the opener (19.30), the second (20.18) and the third (20.49) each ahead of OSU’s Matthew Klinge, setting up the final. Sheremet pulled off the sweep in 20.53, while Klinge finished in 21.83. Sheremet was sub-21 in all four races.
CSL Section 4
Michigan’s Bella Sims led a 1-2 finish for the Wolverines in the 200 IM. Sims crushed the field to win in 1:54.82. Haley McDonald was second in 1:59.34, ahead of Louisville’s Summer Cardwell (1:59.35).
Bey won the men’s 200 IM (1:44.75), ahead of Michigan’s Ryan Healy (1:45.24) and Indiana teammate Noah Cakir (1:46.87).
Bottazzo claimed the 100 breaststroke in 58.22, ahead of OSU’s Maria Ramos Najji (1:00.01) and Larsen (1:00.04).
The men’s event saw Indiana’s Alexei Avakov finish first in 52.22, followed by Conklin (52.49) and Ismail (53.48).
Clark won the 50 free in 21.65, ahead of teammate Paegle (21.88) and Greenhawt (22.07).
Sheremet won the men’s 50 in 19.47, ahead of teammate Aiden Musso (19.98) and IU’s Carlbaum (20.06).
Alex Shackell won the 100 fly in 50.54 ahead of teammate Grana (50.86) and Bellard (51.94).
Graham won the men’s 100 fly in 45.72 ahead of Noel (46.02) and Geer (46.63).
Clark turned around and won the 200 free in 1:43.06 just minutes after winning the 50 free. Golovaty took second in 1:44.40 ahead of Indiana’s Eichbrecht (1:45.21) and Balduccini (1:46.59).
Wigginton claimed the men’s 200 free (1:34.36) ahead of Aaron Shackell once again (1:34.78) and Michigan teammate Alex Thiesing (1:35.43) and Bey (1:35.57).
CSL Relay Super Skins
The women’s relay skins had some fireworks as Louisville won the first race in 1:36.99, then was disqualified in the second race.
Indiana won the second and third race (1:36.46), holding off Michigan twice.
In the finals, it was again a battle between the Hoosiers and the Wolverines with the Hoosiers hanging on for the 1:35.23 win over Michigan (1:39.96).
Grana, Bottazzo, Alex Shackell and Paegle were the Indiana swimmers. Michigan’s relay swimmers were Sims, Sarah Pasquella, Fack and Greenhawt.
The CSL men’s relay skins likewise started with a Louisville win (1:25.45). But the Cardinals hung on for a second win (1:36.90) ahead of Michigan (1:27.14). The same thing happened in the third race with the Cardinals finishing in 1:27.27, just ahead of the Wolverines (1:27.91), setting up a fourth showdown, which Louisville won again in 1:28.71.
Louisville’s relay squad included Kosinski, Conklin, Graham and Sheremet, while Michigan had Geer, Jaeddan Gamilla, Eldam and Sauve.
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