How They Train: Louisville Standout Ella Welch, a Cardinal Aquatics Product
For college, Ella Welch, a rising sophomore at the University of Louisville, chose to stay close to home. A Cardinal Aquatics product, Welch was Swimcloud’s top-ranked Kentucky swimmer (23rd nationally) in the Class of 2022. Welch capped her Assumption High School career by winning the 50 and 100 yard freestyles (state record holder, 48.85) as a junior and senior. Before entering the competitive college waters, Welch had qualified for Olympic Trials and also represented Team USA at the Mel Zajac Jr. International, where she won the 100 free, placed third in the 50 free and 50 breast, and was on two runner-up relays.
At this year’s ACC meet, she totaled 52.5 points, and helped the Cardinals to an NCAA fourth-place finish. At NCAAs, she became a three-time CSCAA All-American, anchoring two third-place relays (200 FR, 1:25.73/21.49; 400 FR, 3:09.57/47.46) and the 11th-place 800 FR (7:00.81/1:45.54).
Going into the 2023 long course season, she had two USA Swimming summer national times in the 50 and 100 free (21.89, 47.99) as well as Winter national times in the 100 breast (1:00.44) and 100 fly (53.05).
Welch began swimming for Cardinal Aquatics more than 10 years ago, and Amy Albiero was an early coach. “Since she was a 10-and-under, Ella has been a person to whom people gravitated. She is a natural leader, a no-frills kind of gal who is not afraid to speak the truth,” says Albiero. “Humble, funny and unassuming, she doesn’t need to be flashy in or out of the water. She will warm up in the back of the lane and doesn’t need to lead the lane to go fast. BUT…when she steps onto the block, she is your worst nightmare. I call her a firecracker!
“What she lacks in size, she makes up in heart! She is a competitor who hates to lose more than she loves to win. At Cardinal Aquatics, we are a vocal team. It is common to hear a ‘Let’s go CARDS’ out of your neighbor during a challenging set—or even during the warm-up). Ella will oftentimes be the first voice heard whether she is killing a set or not. When she is struggling, you will know. She wears her heart on her sleeve, but she will always be her teammates’ No. 1 fan and encourager! She is loyal, an all-in team player. You want an Ella on your team—she is the heart!” says Albiero.
“At Cardinal Aquatics, Ella appreciated opportunities to sprint, but there were definitely times where she would be cruising a long aerobic set. When she was an age grouper, she would train and swim all events—from the 50 free to the 400 IM. She retains her versatility to this day. She was a 1:00.57 breaststroker during this season as well as a 53.58 100 butterflyer.
“When I was her primary coach as a 12-and-under, she was very fearful of longer sets. Today she will say I gave her sets of 1,000s. Now there may have been a 1,000 for time once or twice a season, but certainly not sets of them. She needed lots of love and encouragement during practice when she was young, but she was always a great racer and competitor!
“As Ella progressed through the groups of our team, she was coached by senior coach Colin Faris, Chip Augustus (now Ph.D. and Mental Performance Specialist at U of L) and Kevin Arakaki (now an assistant at Pitt). She continued to excel under these great coaches!
“I’m blessed to still see Ella on the pool deck daily. As a freshman, her leadership qualities have already made a significant impact for the Lady CARDS. I know she is well respected by her coaches and teammates.”
SOME CARDINAL SETS
“We have a few mainstay sets that we do during different parts of the year,” says Albiero. “One that swimmers love and hate is our 20 x 150s. The goal is to go faster than your 200-yard time of a chosen stroke. The swimmer has to make all 20 to complete the set. If one is missed, it does not count…. I’ve seen flyers do 30 of these! Our freestylers can typically make all 20, but it is tough,” says Albiero.
“While not a fan of training long aerobic sets, she thrived on our CARP (Cardinal Aquatics Race Pace) days—typically Tuesdays and Thursdays. Depending on the time of year, we have one to two days per week where the focus is on sheer speed. We may start with just two to three rounds of six to eight fast 25s or 50s at 100 pace and progress throughout the season up to 16 to 20. The goal is to hold 100 pace. If missed, a swimmer sits out until the group gets back to that side of the pool before going again.
“Matchups with Ella and my daughter, Gabi, were lots of fun to watch! At mid-season when Ella was feeling good, I would love watching her aerobic sets of 100s. She would hold 1:02/03 all day long, looking effortless!”
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Michael J. Stott is an ASCA Level 5 coach, golf and swimming writer. His critically acclaimed coming-of-age golf novel, “Too Much Loft,” is in its third printing, and is available from store.Bookbaby.com, Amazon, B&N and distributors worldwide.
Interested to know approx. rest expected on the 150’s? as well as 25 & 50’s.
For 50’s we work on 1:30 to 1:10 interval (at times 1:00 for sub 1:00 race time, but shorter # of repeats- goal of 2nd 50 of 100 goal time. Based on being out within 1 sec of your best 50 time. Ex. 24.0 for 50 free out in 25 & back in sub 27 yards. Works best after doing some power work – chutes, tubing, GMX7 or racks/towers.