Nov. 21, 2014
ATLANTA, Ga. – It was a very successful second day for the Commodores as they continued competition at the Georgia Tech Invitational in Atlanta, Ga.
Vanderbilt carried over Thursday’s successes, breaking two more school records. However, on day two of the invitational it was two freshman talents pacing the Commodores in the pool.
Freshman Summer Brown broke the first record of the day in the morning’s prelims, swimming a time of 1:49.82 in the 200 Freestyle. The record was previously held by fellow teammates Lauren Torres and Hannah Martin, who swam 1:49.87 in the 2013 and 2014 seasons respectively.
The Commodores had prosperous preliminary swims, boasting six Top-10 finishes. Breanna Sapienza led the Commodore contingent in preliminaries, swimming her way into sixth place in the 100-yard fly at a time of 54.74.
Sapienza’s day was not over, in fact it was just getting started as the freshman clinched the 100-butterfly record and her NCAA B cut, with a time of 54.34 in Friday night’s finals. A native of Medford, Ore., Sapienza beat the qualifying B cut time by .15, giving her the opportunity to possibly swim in the NCAA championships. The record setting time placed Sapienza fifth amongst 30 competitors, the highest of any Commodore within the past two days of competition.
“The highlight of the day was Sapienza in the 100 fly… She is having a really great start to her year!”, said head coach Jeremy Organ.
Sophomore Kayla Moran followed Sapienza, coming in at tenth place with a final time of 55.17.
Vanderbilt solidified an additional five top-10 final times. Between both preliminary and final swims, the Commodores amassed a total of 13 Top-10 placements.
In relays, the team of Elly Faulkner, Hannah Martin, Carrie Bencic, and Summer Brown claimed seventh place (7:31.94). Kara Lucenti contributed a 9th place showing, swimming a time of 4:25.58 in the 400 IM. In the 200 free, Brown placed 10th overall with a time of 1:52.24.
Seniors Elly Faulkner and Chrissy Oberg brought in two more Top-10 times, with Faulkner placing seventh in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:02.77) and Oberg ninth in the 100-yard backstroke (55.89).
The Commodores impressive times paid off not only in the Vanderbilt history books, but also in the invitational as they slid up to fifth place with a score of 299. The University of Miami trails the Commodores by 33 points. SEC rival, Florida, remains in the lead tallying 878 points.
Saturday’s preliminary action begins at 10 a.m. ET, with finals taking place at 5 p.m.
