Nov. 23, 2009
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Vanderbilt swimming team finished the fall season on a high note Sunday, as they closed out the Hilltopper Invitational with 404.5 points to finish in second place. Western Kentucky captured the team title with 835 points while Marshall came in third with 368.5 points.
“It was a great weekend for our team I am very proud of the girls and the way they competed,” head coach Jeremy Organ said. “The times posted were a strong indication of the hard work they have been doing up to this point and I am very excited to see what the rest of the season is going to bring.”
The meet was highlighted by Erika Deardorf shattering the school record in the 1650-yard freestyle. The former Woodlands (Texas) prep standout topped the previous school record by nearly 17 seconds, swimming a 17:02.98 to finish in first place in the event. Deardorf’s record time shattered Catherine Pringle’s previous mark of 17:19.37 in which she set in 1989.
“The 1650-free was a breakthrough swim for Erika,” Organ said. “She has been working extremely hard in practice and it was a catalyst for the great swims that the whole team
had tonight.”
Fellow freshman, Chelsea Morey finished her fall season with an impressive season best time of 2:03.42 to finish in third place in the 200-yard backstroke. Morey’s mark was over three seconds faster than her previous season high.
Jessica Eccher and Amy Salce finished right behind Morey in the 200 back with personal best times of 2:04.45 and 2:06.34, good for fourth and fifth place.
Junior Jennifer Molchan notched a season-high 53.63 in the finals of 100-yard freestyle to finish in seventh place while sophomore Zoe Cooper-Surma came in tenth with a 55:57.
Two events later, sophomore Laura Dillon clocked a season best 2:21.61 to finish in second place in the 200-yard breaststroke. Dillon won the preliminaries over Western Kentucky’s Stephanie Martin with a 2:22.50 before falling to her by three-tenths of a second in the finals. Freshman Sarah Lynch was the second Commodore to finish in the 200 breast on Sunday, clocking a sixth-place time of 2:28.27 in the finals.
Sophomore Elizabeth Brunk closed out the weekend with a strong race in the 200-yard butterfly final, clocking a season high 2:12.07. Brunk’s seventh-place time was over five seconds faster than her previous top performance.
The VU 400-yard relay team of Molchan, Eccher, Lynch and Salce put the finishing touches on what was already a strong weekend for the Commodores by swimming a 3:33.93 to finish runner-up to Western Kentucky. Vanderbilt’s second relay team of Ellen Kilgore, Elizabeth Galenti, Cooper-Surma and Morey came in fifth place with a 3:37.70.
Sunday marked the final competition of the fall season for the Commodores. Vanderbilt will return to the pool on Jan. 23 when they travel to Columbia, S.C., for a meet with USC and UNC-Wilmington.
Final Team Standings
1. Western Kentucky 835 points
2. Vanderbilt 404.5 points
3. Marshall 368.5 points
4. University of the Cumberlands 194
5. Centre College 149
