Let’s hear it for Mallory Comerford and the University of Louisville swimming and diving team. Smashing record after record.
Comerford, a senior, recently won her third consecutive ACC Women’s Swimmer of the Year honors after winning two titles at the NCAA Championships and three ACC Championships gold medals.
She is, in fact, the first women’s swimmer in ACC history to receive the distinction three times during her career.
Comerford won her third straight championship in the 200 freestyle, becoming the only Cardinal in history to win three titles in the same event. A day earlier, she captured her first 100 freestyle victory for a total of four career NCAA titles, matching Olympian Kelsi Worrell Dahlia with the most NCAA championships in program history.
By winning both the 100 and 200 freestyle, Comerford also became the first woman to accomplish the feat since Olympian Kara Lynn Joyce won both events at the 2006 NCAA Championships. The last person to secure victories in both freestyle distances was Louisville’s own Joao de Lucca at the 2014 Men’s NCAA Championships.
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Arthur Albiero, meanwhile, earned his second straight ACC Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year honors after guiding the Cardinals to their first team trophy with a fourth place finish at the NCAA Championships, the highest finish in program history.
The Cardinals’ 235 points at NCAA was also the highest total in school history, surpassing the 232 points from last year’s fifth place finish. In total, the Cards broke four program records, added five individual All-Americans in a combined eight events and had all-five relays earn All-American honors for the second straight year.