Feb. 15, 2017
Championship Central | Thursday Prelims Stream | Thursday Finals Stream
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt swim team was eager to get back in the pool for day two of the 2017 SEC Championships. Prelim races were held Wednesday morning for the 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard IM and 50-yard freestyle followed by the 200-yard freestyle relay final at night. The highlight from day two was Johanna Goldblatt’s swim in the 50 free prelim.
“We had some really solid swims throughout the day,” said head coach Jeremy Organ. “Johanna breaking the school record in the 50 free is definitely a highlight. Looking ahead, we have some really good opportunities tomorrow and need to keep the momentum going to put ourselves in a good position to score more points.”
Goldblatt finished with a personal-best time of 23.08, which broke the school record previously held by Hannah Martin (23.27) back in 2015. Goldblatt now holds the school and freshman record in the 50 freestyle.
In the evening, the Commodores swam in the 200 free relay final. The team of Kayla Moran, Johanna Goldblatt, Breanna Sapienza, and Paige Hamilton finished with a time of 1:33.14.
The ‘Dores had nine total swimmers compete in the 50 free prelims this morning. Kayla Moran swam in heat four with Goldblatt and she finished with season-best time of 23.45.
Summer Brown and Kate Hornaday finished back to back in the first heat of the 50 free. They both finished with season-best times of 24.16 and 24.19, respectively.
A trio of Commodores swam in heat two of the 50 free. Paige Hamilton led the way with a season-best time of 23.66. Kathryn Coughlin was right behind her with a season-best time of 23.89. Brenda Cha rounded out the ‘Dores in heat two with a time of 24.23.
Breanna Sapienza and Madeline Hunt were the duo of Commodores in heat three of the 50 free. They also finished back-to-back in the heat. Sapienza finished with a season-best time of 23.74 and Hunt finished with a time of 23.82.
The 500 free started the prelims off Wednesday morning and the ‘Dores had three swimmers in heat one and one swimmer in heat two. Selah Peacock paced the ‘Dores in heat one, finishing with a personal-best time of 4:57.51. Carrie Bencic was right behind her with a time of 4:58.84. Kathryn Babbin rounded out the group in heat one with a season-best time of 5:10.74.
Namilla Sanchez was the lone Commodore in heat two of the 500 free. In her SEC Championship debut, Sanchez finished with a time of 5:04.51.
The next event was the 200 IM and the ‘Dores had two swimmers in the first two heats and then one swimmer in heat five. Brenda Cha (2:07.38) and Erin Primdahl (2:10.26) both swam to season-best times in heat one of the 200 IM.
Alexandra Blankenburg continued that trend in heat two with a season-best time of 2:07.41. Rachel Koch also swam in heat two but was disqualified for a bad turn.
Kara Lucenti rounded out the Commodores in the 200 IM. She finished with a season-best time of 2:02.43 in heat five, just missing a personal-best mark by .27 seconds.
Day three will start tomorrow morning at 10 am ET with prelim races in the 400-yard IM, 100-yard butterfly and 200-yard freestyle. Later in the day, the finals races in those three events along with the men’s 3-meter dive will begin at 6 pm ET.
Full coverage for the 2017 SEC Swimming and Diving Championship will be live on the SEC Network+ and Watch ESPN. Links to the coverage will be posted on vucommodores.com, @Vanderbiltswim on Twitter and Vanderbilt Swimming on Facebook along with updates from each day of competition.
