Feb. 16, 2015
AUBURN, ALA. – The Vanderbilt swim team closes out its 2014-15 season this week as the Commodores compete in the 2015 SEC Championships in Auburn, Ala. The five-day meet will begin February 17th at the home of the Tigers, the James E. Martin Aquatics Center. Preliminary swims will begin every day at 10 a.m. CT, with final sessions starting at 6 p.m. CT.
After weeks of preparation head coach Jeremy Organ and the Commodores are excited to begin SEC competition. Tuesday’s events include the 200-medley relay and the 800 free relay prelims and finals.
“We’re looking forward to begin and get the meet underway,” said Organ. “We will be starting off with the two relays, and they’re both set up to start us off on the right foot.”
Tomorrow’s live SEC action can be found beginning at 6 p.m. on the WatchESPN app, or this link HERE.
Vandy senior veterans Caroline Thomas, Alexis Mayhall, Chrissy Oberg, Elly Faulkner, and Lauren Torres sat down with VUCommodores.com to give SEC Swimming Championship insight.
Despite finishing in 12th at last seasons SEC meet, the Commodores finished with 186.5 points; the most since the program was resurrected in 2007. Vanderbilt has made 17 SEC Championship appearances, with the highest finish of sixth coming in 1984.
Commodore Rewind
The Vanderbilt women’s swim team finished the regular season 10-9 and picked up a fifth place finish at the Georgia Tech Invitational in late November.
The `Dores started the season facing the Georgia Bulldogs, before opening their season at home against Campbell, San Diego State, and University of Arkansas-Little Rock. Vandy picked up its first wins of the season against SDSU and UALR.
Vanderbilt closed out the first half of its season in Atlanta at the Georgia Tech Invitational. The `Dores finished fifth out of 17 schools and broke three school records and two freshman records.
Following their winter training trip in Puerto Rico, the Commodores started up again at home against the SEC’s very own Kentucky Wildcats. The following day the Commodores played host to the Arkansas Razorbacks. As the competition was the final home meet of the season, VU celebrated the careers of its five seniors.
The `Dores closed out the year on the road, picking up wins against Queens University (N.C.) and Wingate University.
Freshman focus
Vanderbilt’s eight-person freshman class has done a lot this season to impress. For the second year in a row the class has set four freshman records through the regular season, with more sure to drop after the conclusion of SEC’s.
Breanna Sapienza set freshman records in both the 100 fly (54.34) and 200 fly (2:01.65). Summer Brown set the 200 free (1:49.82) freshman record, and Kara Lucenti set the 200 IM (2:03.00) freshman record.
Record-breaking SEC’s
Vanderbilt carried on a tradition of success at the 2015 SEC Championships the Commodores broke 15 school record and posting six NCAA B-cut times. During the 2013 championship the `Dores broke 14 school records.
2015 Schedule
Prelims – Tuesday (10 a.m.)
1. Time Trials
2. Men’s 3-meter
3. Women’s 1-meter
Finals – Tuesday (5:30 p.m.)
1. Men’s 1-meter
2. 200-yard Medley Relay
3. Women’s 3-meter
4. 800-yard Freestyle Relay
Prelims – Wednesday (10 a.m.)
1. 400 Individual Medley
2. 100 Butterfly
3. 200 Freestyle
4. Men’s 3-Meter
Finals – Wednesday (6 p.m.)
1. 500 Freestyle
2. 200 Individual Medley
3. 50 Freestyle
4. Women’s 1-Meter
5. 200 Freestyle Relay
Prelims – Thursday (10 a.m.)
1. 400-yard Individual Medley
2. 100-yard Butterfly
3. 200-yard Freestyle
4. Men’s 3-meter
Finals – Thursday (6 p.m.)
1. 400 Individual Medley Final
2. 100 Butterfly Final
3. Men’s 3-Meter Diving Final
4. 200 Freestyle Final
Prelims – Friday (10 a.m.)
1. 200 Butterfly
2. 100 Backstroke
3. 100 Breaststroke
4. Women’s Platform Diving
Finals – Friday (6 p.m.)
1. 200 Butterfly
2. 100 Backstroke
3. 100 Breaststroke
4. Women’s Platform Diving
5. Women’s 400 Medley Relay
Prelims – Saturday (10 a.m.)
1. 200 Backstroke
2. 100 Freestyle
3. 200 Breaststroke
4. Men’s Platform Diving
1650 Freestyle Preliminaries (TBD)
Finals – Saturday (6 p.m.)
1. 1650 Freestyle
2. 200 Backstroke
3. 100 Freestyle
4. 200 Breaststroke
5. Men’s Platform Diving
6. 400 Freestyle Relay
7. Trophy Presentations