Oct. 7, 2010
Nashville, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt women’s swim team opens its season by traveling to Carbondale, Ill., Oct. 9, to face off against Southern Illinois University. The dual meet will be held at the Dr. Edward J. Shea Natatorium at 11 a.m. CT.
The Commodores are coming off a record-breaking season that concluded with strong individual performances at the SEC Championships. Fifth-year head coach Jeremy Organ returns 13 letter winners from last season, including co-captains Laura Dillon and Jennifer Molchan. Senior Anna Fargo and juniors Elizabeth Brunk, Zoe Cooper-Surma and Stephanie Falcone make up the rest of the upperclassmen while seven veteran sophomores will try to build off of their success from a strong freshmen season.
“We hope that Jen Molchan, being one of the two seniors on the team, steps up and lets her presence be known,” Coach Organ said. “We would like to see Laura [Dillon] continue her dominance in the breaststroke events. I hope our upperclassmen set the bar for where we need to be. I think a couple of the other girls will be able to compete in multiple events.”
Coach Organ welcomes ten incoming freshmen, making Vanderbilt one of the youngest teams in the SEC once again.
“It’s a good opportunity to see the freshmen race for the Black and Gold,” Organ said. “I want to have a look at where they stand and where we are from a competitive standpoint. We want to see how they come together to make a complete team. There are some spots where we need people to step up, whether or not they’re ready.”
This is the third time the Commodores have competed against the Salukis. The first meeting took place October 13, 2007, when Vanderbilt lost in Carbondale 151-75. Leigh-Ann Axt won the 200-yard butterfly while Christina Cao won the 100-yard freestyle, marking the first individual victories for the ‘Dores in a dual meet since the program restarted in 2006. Vanderbilt’s lone home meet last season came against Southern Illinois and despite the 145-114 loss, the 400-yard medley relay team of Chelsea Morey, Sarah Lynch, Laura Dillon and Jennifer Molchan won with a time of 4:00.51.
Results and a recap will be posted Saturday afternoon at vucommodores.com.
Starting this season, the Vanderbilt swim team will have a blog called Swimmers’ Stories, where Stephanie Falcone and Laura Furr, along with guest bloggers, will be posting updates on the season. Stay tuned for more updates.