NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Vanderbilt swimming team will be in action for the first time in nearly a month when the Commodores face Iowa in a dual meet at Centennial Sportsplex on Saturday. The competition will begin with the 200 medley relay at 11:30 a.m.
The Dores opened the 2023-24 campaign against Florida on Sept. 29.
“We took this time to add on to the details that we’ve been working on, doing more of the things that we need to do to be successful in the water,” head coach Jeremy Organ said. “It’s been a good three weeks since our last meet, I think the group has really responded well and is looking forward to getting back to competition.”
Vandy was led by the duo of Ellie Taliaferro and Kailia Utley against the Gators, with the two recording NIC B Standards in the 200 IM and 200 fly, respectively. Both finished second in their races as the Dores also got runner-up results from Grace Ciaramitaro (200 back), Faith Knelson (200 breast) and Madelyn Porter (500 free). Megan Ciezczak (50 free) and Abby Francis (100 free) placed among the top three in their events as well.
“I hope to see the level of competitiveness that we showed in that Florida meet and continue to build off that,” said Organ. “I think this is going to be a very competitive meet this weekend, so we have to be very sharp and have great phases to all the races to be able to come out on top.”
The Commodores and Hawkeyes first met a season ago, recording a 131-131 tie—the first in program history—on Jan. 21 in Iowa City.