NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Senior Kailia Utley will once again represent the Vanderbilt swimming program at the NCAA Championships when she competes at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatics Center on Friday and Saturday.
Vanderbilt at NCAA Championships
Friday-Saturday, March 21-22 • Prelims noon CT • Finals 8 p.m.
Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatics Center • Federal Way, Wash. • ESPN+
STORYLINES
Next Up
• Kailia Utley will represent the Commodores at the NCAA Championships for the second season in a row.
• She is the first Vanderbilt swimmer to compete at the NCAA Championships in consecutive years since Wendy Deacon accomplished the feat on three straight occasions from 1987-89.
• Vandy swimming will be making its debut in the Evergreen State at the meet, while it’s the first time a Dore will swim in the Pacific time zone since visiting San Diego State on Oct. 14, 2016.
Last Time Out
• Emily Constable and Aubrey Hull represented the Commodores at the CSCAA National Invitational Championship in Ocala, Florida, last weekend.
• Constable advanced to the 50 and 100 breaststroke consolation finals on the first and second days of the competition, posting a career-low mark in the former while placing third in both races.
• Hull moved on to consolation finals in both the 100 and 200 backstroke the last two days of the event, finishing second in the former and third in the latter.
Utley’s Last Time Out
• Utley swam on both days of the Tennessee Last Chance Invitational in Knoxville, Tennessee, Feb. 28-March 1.
• On the opening day of the meet, the senior broke the school record in the 200 individual medley to finish as the top qualifier in prelims.
• The following day, Utley placed first in prelims in the 200 butterfly before going on to win the final of the event.
Success At the SEC Championships
• In her final time competing at the SEC Championships—held Feb. 18-22 in Athens, Georgia—Utley swam in two individual events and one relay.
• She first took part in the 100 butterfly, breaking her own school record in preliminary heats to advance to the C Final.
• The following night, Utley made it to the B Final of the 200 fly where she would reset the school record while placing fifth in the race.
• She returned at the end of that session and swam the butterfly leg in the 400 medley relay, helping the Dores post a mark that missed tying the school record in the event by just one one-hundredth of a second.
Sensational Senior
• In 2024, the Huntington Beach, California, resident became the first Commodore to compete at the NCAA Championships in 30 years after swimming both the 100 and 200 fly at last year’s meet.
• She qualified for the A Final in both the 100 and 200 fly at the at Toyota U.S. Open Championship in December, and also advanced to the A Final in the latter event the previous month at the Gamecock Invitational.
• Utley owns both overall and freshman school records in the 100 and 200 fly, while this is the fourth season in a row that she has the program’s best times in each event.
• Utley’s 21 career individual victories are most on the current roster, with five of those coming this season including posting a sweep of the 100 and 200 fly against Southern Illinois on Senior Day.
• She is also the program’s most decorated student-athlete out of the pool, having earned CSCAA Scholar All-America recognition on three occasions—picking up first-team honors as a junior after receiving second-team recognition her first two seasons at the collegiate level—while making the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District team each of the last two springs.
Utley Up Close
• Utley is majoring in both classical & Mediterranean studies and medicine, health & society.
• She was salutatorian of high school class and graduated Summa Cum Laude from Mater Dei High School, where she was a member of the National Honor Society and the Renaissance Club.
• Her mother, Kathy, was a swimmer while her father, Heath, competed in track and field at Arizona.
• Both of her older brothers played football at the collegiate level, Noah at West Point (2016-19) and Brayden at Baylor (2018-22).
• In the summer of 2023, Utley completed a three-week stint as an undergraduate research assistant for an archaeological project near the ancient port city of Kenchreai, Greece, led by Associate Professor of Classical and Mediterranean Studies Joseph L. Rife.
• In her spare time, she serves as a lead instructor for the Nashville Dolphins whose mission is to improve the health and quality of life for children and adults with special needs and combat the alarmingly high statistic of drowning deaths.
