Feb. 15, 2018
College Station, Texas – The Vanderbilt swim team wrapped up an exciting first day at the SEC Swimming and Diving Championships Wednesday, breaking a school record in the team’s first event, the 200-yard medley relay.
The team of Joanna Goldblatt, Hannah Hunt, Breanna Sapienza and Madeline Hunt swam to a time of 1:39.12, beating the previous mark of 1:40.61, set in 2016.
“It was great starting off with a school record, I’m so happy and excited for those girls,” said head coach Jeremy Organ. “That was what we wanted, it was exciting to be on the deck for that.”
The success is nothing new for this relay team, as they have won multiple events throughout the 2017-18 season. They were led in the water by Joanna Goldblatt, who returned to the team after missing weeks of competition with the flu. Goldblatt was excited to get in the water first, and her racing helped set the tone for the rest of the event.
“It’s a lot of pressure to be the first person to lead off the meet, but this is one of the most fun events at the meet and we were able to start strong and not lose the lead,” Goldblatt said. “The ability to remain out in front is a huge advantage to have over the other competitors.”
“I was really excited to see all of us rise to the occasion,” said fellow relay team member Breanna Sapienza. “Watching [Goldblatt] swim that race inspired the rest of us to keep the momentum going.”
The Commodores also competed in the 800-yard freestyle relay later in the night, finishing in 12th place with a time of 7:27.41. Namilla Sanchez led off the relay with the best time of her career.
“That was a great relay as well, [Sanchez] led off with her personal-best time, and that’s what our goals were coming in here,” Organ said.
The SEC Championships continue tomorrow for Vanderbilt, as the team competes in the preliminary heats of the 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard individual medley and 50-yard freestyle sprint. Qualifiers will compete in event finals later Thursday evening.
REMAININING SCHEDULE
Commodores participating in events in bold
THURSDAY, FEB. 15
500 free prelims
200 individual medley prelims
50 free prelims
500 free finals
200 individual medley finals
50 free finals
200 free relay finals
FRIDAY, FEB. 16
400 individual medley prelims
100 fly prelims
200 free prelims
400 individual medley finals
100 fly finals
200 free finals
SATURDAY, FEB. 17
200 fly prelims
100 back prelims
100 breast prelims
200 fly finals
100 back finals
100 breast finals
400 medley relay finals
SUNDAY, FEB. 18
200 back prelims
100 free prelims
200 breast prelims
1650 free finals
200 back finals
100 free finals
200 breast finals
400 free relay finals
