College Swimming League Wild Card Match
Welcome swimming fans to the first College Swimming League post-season! Tonight will see the wild card match between Indiana, Cal, Stanford, and Louisville, and the winner will move on to the Championship match against Virginia, Tennessee, and NC State tomorrow.
Indiana is the top ranked team, coming in at 4th overall after beating Cal and Stanford head-to-head in match 5.
Louisville’s last CSL meet came on October 9th, when they finished 3rd to Virginia and Tennessee, but scored enough points to sit ahead of Alabama in the rankings and finish the regular season in 7th.
Lane Assignments
- Stanford
- Stanford
- Louisville
- Louisville
- Indiana
- Indiana
- Cal
- Cal
Match Scoring
- Winner — 4 points
- 2nd — 3 points
- 3rd — 2 points
- 4th — 1 point
Current Standings
Indiana is currently in 4th and the likely favorite to win the meet, especially with some of the notable absences, particularly from Cal. Liberty Clark is coming off an exceptional SC World Trials and will be racing in a few events tonight as well. Alex Shackell, Josh Bey, Noah Cakir, and Owen McDonald will also be in the water tonight after qualifying for the U.S. team last week. With other notable swimmers like Miranda Grana, Anita Bottazzo, and Miroslav Knedla to name a few, the Hoosiers look to be in good position to qualify for tomorrow’s Championship Match.
Cal currently ranks 5th in the CSL, but they have a number of athletes who will not be racing tonight including Ryan Erisman, Rylee Erisman, Mia West, Silje Slyngstadli, and Michel Arkhangelskiy. The Cal coaches told SwimSwam that there were a variety of reasons for the absences including illness, minor injuries, and “academic opportunities”, and racing last weekend. They still have some strong athletes in attendance including Yamato Okadome, Baylor Stanton, and Mary-Ambre Moluh, but they will have an uphill climb if they want to take on Indiana.
Stanford beat Cal head-to-head in the 3rd CSL match, and they don’t seem to be missing any big players. Their top athletes will also be more rested after not racing at last week’s World Trials.
Louisville is the final team to qualify after they finished 7th in the regular season. Do not count them out, though. Anastasia Gorbenko has been exceptional for the Cardinals over the last few CSL matches and we have seen some big point shifts and upsets happen over the last month of the CSL.
Event Lineup
- 200 Backstroke
- 200 Breaststroke
- 500 Freestyle
- 4×50 Freestyle Relay
- 200 Butterfly
- 100 IM
- 100 Backstroke
- 100 Freestyle
- 50 Skins (chosen by winners of the 4×50 freestyle relay)
- 200 IM
- 100 Breast
- 50 Free
- 100 Fly
- 200 Free
- 4×50 Medley Relay Super Skins
Scoring
| Place | Individual Event Scoring | |
| 1st | 9 Points | 18 Points |
| 2nd | 7 Points | 14 Points |
| 3rd | 6 Points | 12 Points |
| 4th | 5 Points | 10 Points |
| 5th | 4 Points | 8 Points |
| 6th | 3 Points | 6 Points |
| 7th | 2 Points | 4 Points |
| 8th | 1 Point | 2 Points |
Skins Scoring
| Round | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th |
| Round 1 (8) | 9 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Round 2 (6) | 9 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | — | — |
| Round 3 (4) | 9 | 7 | 6 | 5 | — | — | — | — |
| Round 4 (2) | 9 | 7 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Super Skins Scoring
| Round | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th |
| Round 1 (8) | 18 | 14 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| Round 2 (6) | 18 | 14 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | — | — |
| Round 3 (4) | 18 | 14 | 12 | 10 | — | — | — | — |
| Round 4 (2) | 18 | 14 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Scoring Note: Jackpot Scoring
Jackpots happen when the athlete who wins beats any of the athletes by a predetermined amount outlined in the rules here. The winner steals the points of all athletes who they beat by the margin.
If they only beat the 8th place athlete by the designated amount, they will earn 10 points. If they beat the 7th and 8th place athletes, they will earn 12 points etc. We will do our best to track it in the live recap, but the meet moves fast.
Scoring Note: DQs
The 3rd CSL match brought DQs into the forefront in a massive light after Stanford came out on top of Cal following jackpot DQ points in both of the final relays.
If an athlete/team is disqualified, the winner of the event steals their points, even if they came in under the jackpot threshold. This is true for both individual and relay events.
Athletes to Watch
Women
- Caroline Bricker, Stanford — Bricker has become the leader of the Stanford women’s roster since Torri Huske‘s graduation, and she has been having a really strong season so far. She is swimming both breaststroke events tonight, which will put her against Gorbenko and Bottazzo.
- 100 breast, 200 breast, 100 IM
- Annam Olasewere, Stanford — Olasewere had a few strong performances for the Cardinal in the 3rd CSL match, and will be a crucial relay member tonight.
- Anastasia Gorbenko, Louisville — If we were to assign an all CSL MVP, Anastasia Gorbenko would be in the running to earn the title. She has been exceptional for Louisville and will be one of the favorites to win all three of her events tonight.
- 100 breast, 200 breast, 100 IM
- Caroline Larsen, Louisville — Sprint freestylers thrive in the CSL format and Caroline Larsen is no different. She will be a strong contender in the 50 free and 100 IM for the Cardinals.
- Alex Shackell, Indiana — Coming off a strong showing at the U.S. SC World Trials, Alex is the only Shackell sibling racing tonight and if she gets the opportunity to race the butterfly skins again, she will be the heavy favorite.
- Liberty Clark, Indiana — Newly minted American record holder Liberty Clark could be looking to add records to her total tonight, particularly in the 200 freestyle, though it is the last event of a long meet. If Clark swims even close to her performances last week, she will be a massive point scorer for the Hoosiers.
- 50 free, 100 free, 200 free
- Mary Ambre Moluh, Cal — Cal’s top female swimmer with their absences, Mary-Ambre Moluh is a massive threat in the 100 backstroke to earn an event win for Cal.
- Ella Cosgrove, Cal — Cosgrove had two top-three finishes in the 3rd CSL match, but was slightly off those performances in the 5th match. If she is on tonight, she will be a big member of the Cal roster.
Men
- Daniel Li, Stanford — Li is one of the top in-season breaststrokers in the NCAA, and with the stacked breaststroke events of Indiana and Cal, look to Li for a potential outside smoke win.
- Ethan Ekk, Stanford — Ekk was one of Stanford’s top point scorers and a big difference maker in Stanford’s win over Cal in the 3rd CSL match, and he will be trying to help the Cardinal lock up another upset tonight.
- Nikita Sheremet, Louisville — Sheremet is a huge skins warrior and if Louisville wins the 4×50 freestyle relay, you can count on them to choose freestyle to let Sheremet shine.
- Filip Kosinski, Louisville — Kosinski has been incredibly reliable for the Louisville Cardinals and is coming off a few lifetime bests from Louisville’s last meet against Notre Dame.
- Josh Bey, Indiana — The men’s 200 breaststroke event could be one of the most exciting of the meet, and that is partially due to Josh Bey‘s participation. He is another swimmer that had a strong performance last week and earned his first Worlds roster spot for the United States.
- 200 breast, 200 IM, 200 free
- Raekwon Noel, Indiana — Noel has consistently been one of the top point scorers for the Hoosiers over the last few matches, and tonight will likely be very similar.
- Yamato Okadome, Cal — Okadome has been phenomenal for the Golden Bears this season, and will be the favorite to win both breaststroke events tonight.
- Baylor Stanton, Cal — Freshman Baylor Stanton has been flying under the radar a bit, but with Cal having some major absences, this will be a big opportunity for him to have some strong performances.
Races to Watch
Women
Men
SwimSwam Prediction
This meet seems like it’s Indiana’s to lose. With the major absences from Cal, their top competitor, the Hoosiers are in a very strong position to move on to tomorrow’s Championship Match. It will be crucial for them, however, to remain clean and not lose the major relay points due to DQs as we have seen happen to other teams numerous times this season.
