Dores Down Eagles

Vandy picks up dual meet win over Florida Gulf Coast

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Vanderbilt edged Florida Gulf Coast for a hard-earned 151-143 dual meet win Saturday at the FGCU Aquatics Center. In a dramatic affair that came down to the final relay, Vanderbilt won eight races on the day to improve its overall record to 2-1.

The Dores won bookend relays with victories in the 200-yard medley (1:43.76) and 200-yard freestyle (1:34.15) varieties.

Vandy secured three straight individual races behind the efforts of Mercedes Traba (10:31.68) in the 1,000-yard freestyle, Eleanor Beers (1:52.89) in the 200-yard freestyle and Tonner Debeer (57.02) in the 100-yard backstroke.

In the 200-yard butterfly, Kailia Utley earned the win in 2:04.72 but Florida Gulf Coast responded by picking up first-place points in the next five events.

Traba responded with a win in the 500-yard freestyle (5:05.93). Debeer went 55.45 to capture the 100-yard butterfly and the Dores went 2-3 in the 400-yard individual medley to set the stage for the deciding final race.

Vanderbilt returns to action when it plays host to Illinois at 1 p.m. CT on Oct. 30.