Feb. 22, 2009
AUBURN, Ala. – Teams always want to be peaking and competing at their highest level at the end of the season and the Vanderbilt swimming and diving team did just that. The Commodores closed out the 2009 regular season by setting three school records at the James E. Martin Aquatic Center Saturday in the final day of the Southeastern Conference Swimming and Diving Championships.
Vanderbilt posted school records in the 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke and the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Sophomore Jennifer Molchan got the Commodores rolling Saturday, swimming a career-high and school-record 52.21 in the 100-yard freestyle, breaking Leslie Holt’s 19-year-old school record of 52.38. Molchan’s time was good enough for 47th place in the stacked 100 free field.
The sophomore tandem of Anna Fargo and Christina Chao posted personal best times in the 100-free as did freshmen Zoe Cooper-Surma and Mary Wetz. Suzanne Wetz, the older of the two Wetz’s sisters, shaved nearly four seconds off her previous 100-free season-high, finishing with a 1:00.28.
VU’s top backstroker, Alexandra Jennings, led the way once again with a 2:12.69 to finish in 30th place in the 200-yard backstroke. Senior Rebecca Rogers trimmed almost a full second off her 200-backstroke previous high, finishing one-spot back of Jennings with a 2:15.20. Similar to Rogers, junior Austin Langley cut an impressive four-seconds off her previous 200-backstroke season high, swimming a 2:21.21.
Freshman breaststroker Laura Dillon closed out the 2009 regular season in dramatic fashion Saturday, swimming to a new school record 2:19.56 in the 200-yard breaststroke. Dillon’s time shatters her own previous school record of 2:22.00 in which she set last November at the Hilltopper Invitational. The former high school All-American closes out her first year as already one of the best breaststrokers to wear the black and gold.
Allie Voss, Elizabeth Brunk and Jess Cohen joined Dillon in the 200-yard breaststroke and in similar fashion, they all set personal records in the event. Voss’s 2:22.67 Saturday was over three-and-a-half seconds faster than her previous season best (2:26.39) while Brunk and Cohen swam nearly eight seconds faster than its previous season high.
In the 42nd and final event of the weekend the Commodores posted its fifth school record of the weekend by swimming a 3:30.66 in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The record setting relay team consisted of Molchan, Obranowicz, Fargo and Voss). The 3:30.66 time tops the previous record relay time of 3:31.55 which was set in 1990 by Leslie Holt, Amy Batchelder, Wrenn Terrill and Julie Caldwell.
Despite finishing in tenth place in the team standings the `Dores return to Nashville with by far its best performance of the 2008-09 campaign and have five new school records to show for it.
Vanderbilt Results
200-yard backstroke – 30. Alexandra Jennings, 2:12.69, 31. Rebecca Rogers, 2:15.20, 32. Austin Langley, 2:21.21, 33. Alex Walsh, 2:24.91
100-yard freestyle – 47. Jennifer Molchan, 52.21*, 50. Anna Fargo, 53.35, 51. Christina Chao, 54.04, 52. Zoe Cooper-Surma, 54.20, 53. Mary Wetz, 54.58, 54. Suzanne Wetz, 1:00.28
200-yard breaststroke – 22. Laura Dillon, 2:19.56*, 26. Allie Voss, 2:22.67, 29. Elizabeth Brunk, 2:24.43, 31. Jackie Roeing, 2:34.17, 32. Jess Cohen, 2:35.14
200-yard butterfly – 28. Kelly Obranowicz, 2:08.21, 30. Mary Wetz, 2:12.24
400-yard freestyle relay – 9. Vanderbilt, 3:30.66** – denotes school record
Women’s Final Team Standings (Through Event 42)
1. Florida 744
2. Auburn 730.5
3. Georgia 725
4. Tennessee 394.5
5. Arkansas 299
6. Alabama 244
7. South Carolina 225
8. LSU 187
9. Kentucky 182
10. Vanderbilt 74
