Oct. 11, 2008
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Vanderbilt swimming and diving team defeated CentreCollege 127-106 and Rhodes College 176-43 in a double-dual Saturday at theCentennial Sportsplex in Nashville, Tenn. It was the program’s first wins indual-meet action since the program was started up again in the winter of2006.
“It is exciting for us,” head coach Jeremy Organ said. “It is good to do itat home and have the girls see some success with our fans here. It is alwaysgood to swim well when you are at home.”
Sophomore Leigh-Ann Axt set the tone for the Commodores Saturday as shecruised to a first-place finish in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of10:32.84. The 1,000-yard title was just the beginning of a Vanderbiltdominating performance Saturday. Axt’s time was over 40 seconds faster thanthe second place finisher.
The Kingwood, Texas native also placed second in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 59.80. Five events later, Axt added to her list of achievements as she cruised to the 500-yard freestyle title with a time of 5:12.49, nearly 11 seconds faster than the second place competitor.
Jennifer Molchan followed Axt’s first place finish with one of her own asshe swam to a first place finish in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of1:57.64. Teammate Anna Fargo placed fourth in the same event with a time of2:05.91.
Later in the meet, Kelly Obranowicz picked up her second-straight 100-yard butterfly title with a time of 55.06. The Marietta, Ga., native’s time Saturday was faster than the time she posted against Alabama last month.
Obranowicz continued her strong fall season as she placed third in the50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.62. Zoe Cooper-Surma finished rightbehind Obranowicz with a time of 25.77.
Freshman Laura Dillon picked up where she left off two weeks ago as sheplaced second in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:16:25.
Nicole Woodworth and Liz Asche swept the one-meter dive as they finishedfirst and second overall with scores of 239.40 and 198.08, respectively. TheVanderbilt duo also picked up the top two finishes in the three-meter divewith Woodworth claiming the top honor with a score of 227.33.
Sophomore Alexandra Jennings picked up a second place finish in the 100-yardbackstroke after swimming to a time of 1:03.51.
Freshman Allie Voss picked up a first-place finish of her own in the100-yard breaststroke by swimming to a time of 1:08.49.
The ‘Dores 200-yard freestyle relay team of Christina Chao, Fargo, Molchanand Obranowicz picked up the gold medal after recording an impressive timeof 1:41:48.
After the meet the Commodores head coach talked about how this can help theteam gain some momentum heading into the conference season.
“Hopefully, it is the first two of many, many more,” Organ said. “We’ve got along road ahead of us, and we have to keep the focus on the end of the seasonand doing our best at the SECs and getting better each week.
“It is a nice stepping stone, but we’ve definitely got a long way to go yet.”
