Experience on the Big Stage

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Times are good in Commodore Nation. From football’s historic season to soccer’s SEC Tournament glory and Elite Eight run, and from NCAA doubles finalists in women’s tennis to men’s and women’s basketball juggernauts, to Vandy United and Anchored for Her, winning is in the air. And thanks to Aubrey Hull, even in the water.

The Vanderbilt swimmer has touched the wall first five times this season, giving the sophomore double-digit career wins in her short time in Nashville. She owns the team’s fastest times this season in the 100 and 200 backstroke and 100 freestyle, and has been part of a bevy of the team’s fastest relay efforts. Less than halfway into her stay, she is the program’s all-time record holder in the 100 backstroke and second in the 200 backstroke — within a few hundredths of a second of a record that has stood for nearly 15 years.

She sees what’s going on around her. And she wants in.

“Seeing all the other teams doing so well motivates me,” Hull said. “Especially with the women’s teams—like with basketball winning, and then I’m close with a bunch of the soccer girls—just seeing them doing so well pushes me and my teammates to want to be at that higher SEC level.”

But more than merely wanting to compete at the highest level, she’s already done it. She’s been there and come back with the lessons. Her Vanderbilt athletic peers have competed on big stages in recent months, yes, but none bigger than that which greeted Hull when she stepped onto the pool deck at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis in June 2024.

Days after she walked across a stage and accepted her diploma at Charlotte’s Ardrey Kell High School, Hull traveled to Indianapolis for the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials. An ocean no longer stood between her and the Paris Olympics. Just two lengths of the 50-meter pool. Her family often teases her that she is oblivious to her surroundings most of the time. And despite watching world record holder Gretchen Walsh warm up or sharing space with backstroke world champion Regan Smith, she tried to go about her race in Indianapolis as if it was any other meet. Except it wasn’t any other meet. Not even close.

Above: Hull swims in Lane 8 during Olympic Trials (courtesy Richard Paige, Wabash College Communications).

“There’s a camera underwater, and right when I pushed off, it started moving,” Hull recalled of the accoutrements of a nationally televised event. “It was under me, and it’s so loud and it startled me because I didn’t know it was going to be moving.”

One of the other swimmers in her preliminary heat went to the Olympics. For her part, Hull savored her brush with the elite and packed her bags for her freshman year at Vanderbilt.

Along with dorm room essentials, she brought the knowledge that realizing big dreams depends on paying attention to countless small goals along the way.

Entering her final year of high school, she hadn’t built her life around making the Olympic Trials. She knew it had become a possibility, of course, even if she never would have imagined that for most of her young life. But as the weeks went by throughout the spring and her times ticked down, closer and closer to the qualifying standard, she focused on small goals. It wasn’t so much about getting to Indianapolis as conquering the small details that would cut the tenths of seconds that added up to a larger prize. She couldn’t qualify for the Trials on a random Tuesday morning in Charlotte. But she could fine tune her flip turns. The next day, she could work on getting better underwater.

What would be the point in taking shortcuts anyway? The only expectations she was trying to meet were her own.

Hull might seem destined for big things in the pool. Her parents were collegiate swimmers. Her dad, Carter Hull, even swam in the SEC, winning a national championship with Auburn. But while football Saturdays were a big deal in her house growing up, swimming wasn’t. She got the sense her dad felt burned out on swimming by the time his college career ended. He didn’t push his kids (Aubrey’s older brother swims at Division II Lenoir-Rhyne) into the pool. They had to find their own way, discover their own passion. And that, in turn, meant the freedom to set their own goals.

“Some parents are so intense about swimming, but he’s so chill,” Hull said. “I love talking to him about it, and he really just supports me. He always reminds me to just take it one day at a time, like today might not be your best day, but just work on it tomorrow.”

Hull and teammates cheer on Vanderbilt soccer during the NCAA Tournament (Sam Jordan/Vanderbilt Athletics). 

So, yes, she came to Vanderbilt with big dreams, confidence buoyed by her time in the pool in Indianapolis. But the plan hasn’t changed. It’s still about the small goals, like the one she set this season to be intentional about being there for her teammates and fostering the welcoming environment that attracted her to the program in the first place. It might seem a stretch to suggest that will make her faster in the water, but following through on what you set out to do makes you better at everything. The aspiring business student won’t be a better corporate leader or entrepreneur because she made the Olympic Trials or set Vanderbilt records. But she’ll be a C-Suite asset for the companies she leads because of what she learned while pursuing her swimming goals.

“You’re so dedicated to something and you have so many goals that you want to achieve, but you have to figure out the small steps to get there,” Hull said. “For example, it’s stuff like the time management of having to plan your day around practice or lifting — even what you’re going to eat throughout your day. So what I’ve learned from being an athlete has been the dedication and persistence to pursue my goals. It’s about going after it when things are hard and just really putting yourself out there.”

For now, it’s on to the SEC Championships in Knoxville, with the certainty of the CSCAA National Invitational Championship and the possibility of the NCAA Championships beyond that. She is among Vanderbilt’s best hopes to continue a memorable year across athletics with SEC success. A year ago in the conference showcase, she came within a second of breaking the school record in the 200 backstroke en route to a solid showing.  But this isn’t the Olympic Trials. She’s not just happy to be part of the field.

“Last year was my first SEC meet, and I think I put so much pressure on myself with wanting to do well,” Hull said. “I was almost intimidated because it’s such a huge meet and I’m there with my team. But I’ve been to big meets before. I know that I can do this. This year I’ve definitely been more in a fun, ‘Let’s do this’ headspace, and I feel like that’s healthy growth.”

And once she’s got a goal in front of her, look out.