Dores Complete Saturday Sweep

Vandy defeats both North Florida and Georgia Southern in Jacksonville

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Faith Knelson and Mercedes Traba each won two races to help lead Vanderbilt swimming to a pair of wins at the UNF Aquatic Center on Saturday.

Knelson claimed the 100 and 200 breaststroke while Traba finished first in both the 500 freestyle and 200 butterfly as the Commodores beat host North Florida, 177-85, and Georgia Southern by a 175-87 margin.

“It was a good day of racing for our ladies, there were some great opportunities to help build some confidence in their race strategies,” Vandy head coach Jeremy Organ said. “We definitely saw that with a number of season-best times. Mercedes is having a great start to the season, and Faith had a really good day.”

The Dores also got event victories from Gray Almasi, Eleanor Beers, Jenna Ravarino, Maddie Smith and Ellie Taliaferro to improve to 3-2 on the season.

Meet Highlights
-Vandy earned its first relay wins of the campaign, finishing first in the 400 medley to open the event and the 800 freestyle to end the day.
-Beers picked up the Commodores’ first individual win of the meet by claiming the 200 freestyle, which was followed by Almasi touching the wall first in the 100 backstroke.
-Knelson (100 breaststroke) and Traba (200 butterfly) then won the next two races, with the Dores placing first in six straight events after Ravarino and Taliaferro added victories in the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle, respectively.
-Knelson and Traba’s second wins of the day came in back-to-back events as well.
-Smith touched the wall first in the 200 individual medley, the final individual race of the meet.

Notes
-The Dores now lead the all-time series with UNF, 5-1.
-It was Vandy’s first-ever win over Georgia Southern.
-Traba’s 2:03.59 mark in the 200 butterfly was the fastest by a Commodore in the event thus far this fall.
-In the 200 breaststroke, Knelson’s 2:20.19 time was the fastest this season recorded by a Vandy student-athlete in the event.
-Ravarino (24.07) and Karsyn Cook (24.20) posted season-best times in the 50 freestyle, with the former recording the fastest mark in the race for Vandy so far this season.
-Cook ended up with a 57.11 time in the 100 butterfly, her best of 2022-23, to lead the Dores with a second-place result.
-As part of a one-two-three finish in the 100 freestyle, Taliaferro (52.34) improved her team-leading mark in the race this fall while Ravarino (52.81) and Alina Stout (53.56) also posted season-best times.
-Almasi posted a season-best time in the 100 back after touching the wall in 58.05.
-Alixandra Roy placed second in the 200 individual medley with a 2:11.17 mark, her best of the season in the race so far.
-Kailia Utley paced the Dores with a third-place finish after finishing the 200 backstroke in a season-best 2:09.68.

Vandy will be off until taking part in a quad meet with Marshall, Queens and Richmond in Charlotte, North Carolina, beginning at 3 p.m. CT on Nov. 4 and continuing the following day.