By Andy Knabel

The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams finished last season as runner-up in the Big East Championships. The only team that finished ahead of the Cardinals was Notre Dame, who finished in the top two 17 times in the last 25 years.
Much of U of L’s success can be attributed to head coach Arthur Albiero.
“Our vision from day one was about creating a structure that is second to none, in terms of facilities, administrative support and community support, and that fosters a high level of competition,” Albiero said.
U of L recently sent senior swimmers Vali Preda, Adam Madarassy and Andrei Radzionau to Beijing to compete in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Albiero is very proud of the group’s performance.
“The group returned from those experiences understanding first hand what it takes to compete at the top,” Albiero said. “If anything, it helped us realize we have everything we need right here, in Louisville, to compete at a world class level. That speaks volumes of the structure here.”
The Cards have two big home meets coming up against conference foe West Virginia on Friday, who finished close behind Louisville in the Big East last season, and another on Nov. 14 against a nationally ranked Missouri program that finished No. 3 in the Big 12 Championships.
Wins over West Virginia and Missouri could be huge for the program. Ian Trapp, senior men’s team captain, believes the Cardinals can win both meets with a great team effort.
“Against West Virginia, a win would be big to establish our continuing dominance in the Big East,” Trapp said. “We need to do the little things that will ensure victories. We need some big swims out of our lower spots, those pushes for fourth-place that win meets.”
Senior women’s team captain Jenny Schimenti seemed to have the same outlook on the upcoming meets.
“West Virginia, I’ve scoped out,” Schimenti said. “They have some strong top swimmers but their depth can’t compare to ours.”
Albiero believes the meet against West Virginia will be particularly important for his team.
“It’s a conference rival,” Albiero said. “When we get together it’s always a little bit of fireworks.  Some pretty inspiring performances have come out of our dual meets in past years. It will be a showdown of experience.”
While last year proved to be a breakthrough season, Albiero expects this season to be even better.
“We have the personnel to [win the Big East],” Albiero said. “These are the most talented teams U of L has ever had. The makings are there, and that’s why our theme for this year is ‘Make it happen.’ This is ultimately the challenge: Can we do it? Is this the year we break Notre Dame’s streak? We shall see.”