In fact, many Cardinals have been firing things up even more these past few months – going beyond the ACC and the NCAA to take on the world.

Some are even sitting on top of it.

Take Mallory Comerford, for example. Even if you don’t follow the sport of swimming, you probably know she’s one of the most decorated athletes in UofL history, with four NCAA titles under her belt. Now, she’s also a world record holder.

During the FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, in July, Comerford swam the third leg of the mixed 400 freestyle relay, which won a gold and set a new world record. She was also part of the women’s 400 freestyle relay, which set an American record and earned a gold medal, and the women’s 400 medley relay, which also won the gold.

For measure, Comerford’s individual effort in the women’s 100 freestyle earned her a seventh-place finish in the world.  

Her former teammate, UofL alum Kelsi Worrell Dahlia, also earned a world record during the meet as a member of the women’s 400 medley relay. The day prior, Dahlia achieved an American record in the 50 butterfly with a fourth-place finish.

Newly-graduated Zach Harting also competed in the World Championships, finishing sixth in the 200 men’s butterfly. The Cardinals’ head coach Arthur Albiero was one of Team USA’s coaches during the meet, marking the fifth time he has been tapped to coach a national team.

This meet is one of the last international competitions before the 2020 Olympic season starts and our Cards are in a good spot to potentially represent Team USA next summer in Tokyo.

Women’s basketball coach Jeff Walz is also a world champ, having coached Team USA at the FIBA U19 World Cup in Bangkok, Thailand, last week. Team USA beat Australia in the championship game 74-70 in overtime.

Meanwhile, Dani Busboom Kelly, head coach of the Cardinals’ volleyball team, spent much of July coaching USA Volleyball’s High Performance Teams in Florida. This experience builds on her 2018 resume, in which she coached the US Collegiate National Team to a gold medal in the European Global Challenge in Croatia.

One of Kelly’s players, Tori Dilfer, a sophomore setter from California, was part of the U.S. Women’s Collegiate National Team this summer, which placed ninth in an international tournament in Nocera, Italy, in July.

Incoming UofL freshman Jessica De Filippo was part of the Canadian U-20 soccer team during a Women’s U-20 international series played in England in early July. Speaking of soccer, former UofL standout Chinyelu Asher represented Jamaica during July’s World Cup.

UofL incoming lacrosse players Maddie McDonough and Nicole Perroni are currently representing their respective countries (Israel and Canada) in the 2019 FIL U19 World Championships in Canada.��

UofL’s head coach Scott Teeter led the 2019 Canada Women’s Field Lacrosse U19 National Team Evaluation Camp in June, as well. Teeter has served as head coach of the Canadian U19 National Team since 2009.

Finally, (we think?) Louisville baseball coach Dan McDonnell spent much of his summer coaching the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team, his first year as head coach.

“To put a uniform on, especially a USA uniform, one just to compete again is fun and healing when the season ends with a loss, but especially when you put the USA uniform on. It’s a real treat,” .��

From the pool to the court to the pitch to the field, Cardinal Athletics have made quite an impact on the world stage this summer. This should provide plenty of momentum heading into the fall sports season, and plenty of pride while donning the red and black.

The senior engineering major chose UofL because of its successful swim and engineering programs.��

“One day you’re racing Olympians. The next day you’re taking a systems dynamics test,” Harting said. He especially likes his fluids classes and admits he calculates water force and pressure during swim practice.��

“Being surrounded by the people I’m surrounded with academically and people in the pool who push me to do better and having the support from the rest of the city in what I’m trying to accomplish really means a lot,” Harting said. “If I go into an international meet, I’m thinking about the people that are behind me … It’s really comforting knowing that I have people who are supporting me.”

Check out more of Harting’s story below. Check out Harting and his fellow Cards as the :

At the Olympic Swimming Trials this week in Omaha, Nebraska, Worrell pulled off a bit of an upset over Olympic veteran and 2012 gold medalist Dana Vollmer to win the 100 butterfly and punch her ticket to the Olympic Games in Rio in August. With her 100 butterfly victory, Worrell will also swim the third leg on the U.S. medley relay team.

She is the first Cardinal swimmer to ever qualify for the U.S. Olympic Team, and the second UofL athlete to represent the U.S. at these Games, along with now-WNBA player Angel McCoughtry.

During a after Monday night’s swim, Worrell said, “I don’t know if everything’s really sunk in, but I’m really excited and I have this huge relief off my shoulders … I wasn’t expecting to touch first so that was emotional; a dream come true.”

Worrell will also swim the 200 butterfly, 50 and 100 freestyle during the Olympic Trials this week. She is ranked third, fifth and seventh, respectively, in those events.

Prior to securing her status as an Olympian, the Mt. Holly, New Jersey, native established a long list of swimming and academic accomplishments. For starters, she is a four-time NCAA champion, an NCAA record holder, ACC Swimmer of the Year, Pan Am gold medalist, Arena Pro Series gold medalist, Honda Spirit Award winner, and two-time ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

The Olympics are Aug. 5-21 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Swimming starts Aug. 6 and runs through Aug. 13.

UofL had 34 swimmers qualify for the Olympic Trials and is also sending swimmers Grigory Tarasevich (Russia), Joao De Lucca (Brazil), Marcelo Acosta (El Salvador), Carlos Claverie (Venezuela) and Tanja Kylliainen (Finland) to Rio. , Cardinal swimmers Alina Kendzior (Estonia) and Andrea Kneppers (Netherlands) are “on the bubble.”

Get to know more about Kelsi Worrell below: