Feb. 21, 2015
SEC Saturday Prelims 
SEC Saturday Finals
AUBURN, Ala. – The Vanderbilt Commodores concluded their 2015 SEC Swimming and Diving Championship journey in true Vanderbilt swim style; with a lot of laughs, a few bittersweet tears, and of course a broken school record. The `Dores finished 12th in conference action with 173 points. Vanderbilt opened and closed the competition by breaking a record.
“Overall it was a really fun week for us,” said head coach Jeremy Organ. “It was really great to see the team come together and perform. We’re really happy with where we are, and we’re looking forward to seeing the program progress to the next level.
The `Dores began their last day with the 200 yard backstroke prelims. Freshmen Kate Hornaday and Madeline Hunt both swam personal records to kick-off the day for Vanderbilt on the right note. Senior Alexis Mayhall took her last dip in the pool for the black and gold, finishing at a time of 2:06.68.
Later in head four, current record holder, Chrissy Oberg, finished out her career as a Commodore swimming at a time of 2:00.82.
The Commodores showcased five swimmers in the 100 free prelims. Hunt registered another solid performance for the team, swimming a season-best time of 52.10. In heat two Caroline Thomas, Summer Brown, and Brenda Cha all gave impressive swims, all faster than their season bests. With a time of 51.06, Brown became a three-time Vanderbilt freshman record holder as she beat Hannah Martin’s 2013 record by .29
Martin, the current 100 free school record holder, swam last for VU in heat five. The junior registered a season-best time of 50.52.
The Commodores gave a strong showing in the last event of prelims, the 200-breaststroke. Almost every Commodore swam their fastest time of the year. Kara Lucenti was the top-seeded Commodore, as she was one of only two freshmen to be in the top-two preliminary heats.
Elly Faulkner, the current 200 breast record holder, performed exceptionally in her last prelim as a Commodore. Swimming in a season-best time of 2:15.67, and ensuring her a spot in Saturday night’s finals.
Faulkner capped off her Vanderbilt career finishing 5th in the 200 Breast “C” Final at a time of 2:14. 54; a season-best.
To conclude the week the relay team of Hannah Martin, Kayla Moran, Summer Brown, and Caroline Thomas broke the eighth and final record for the `Dores in the 400 free relay by 1.6 seconds, coming in at 3:24.10.
“That’s big for us; It is always one of our goals at the beginning of the year to break the relay records. And to break it by the large margin that we did was a really good sign of things to come,”
While the seniors may have dove into competition one last time to VU, the rest of the squad had one more chance to scratch a few more school records. The `Dores head to Gainesville, Fla. for their Last Chance Meet. The Commodores will be in Gator country Feb. 28 – 31st.
