AUBURN, Ala. — Ellie Taliaferro capped a record-setting week for Vanderbilt swimming at the SEC Championships by breaking her own mark set at the start of the meet to highlight the Commodores’ performance at the James E. Martin Aquatic Center on Saturday.
The sophomore had established a new standard in the 100 free on the opening night of the competition before posting an even faster mark in the morning’s preliminary heats. She returned at night and teamed with Megan Ciezczak, Faith Knelson and Abby Francis to help Vandy post a record-breaking time in the 400 free relay, the final event of the meet.
Vandy finished the championships in 12th place after scoring 194 points.
“It was a great week for the entire team, so I’m happy for everyone,” head coach Jeremy Organ said. “I think we had a good feeling coming in. We did some really good things in a good season, you never know what’s going to happen but we are extremely excited about what did take place. It was a great week overall.”
Meet Highlights
-Kailia Utley was just outside of the top 30 after leading the Commodores in prelims of the 200 back.
-Taliaferro posted a top-40 result after finishing first among the seven Dores competing the 100 free prelims.
-Knelson was Vandy’s top individual in the 200 breast prelims, placing among the top 40.
Notes
-The point total was the highest the Commodores have scored dating back to the 2007 SEC Championships, the first the program competed at after being reinstated.
-Vanderbilt swimmers broke nine individual school records while setting new standards in all five relays over the course of the five-day meet.
-Taliaferro, Ciezczak, Knelson and Francis finished in 3:20.21 to become the fourth different 400 free relay combination this season to record a mark that ranks among the top 10 all-time at Vandy.
-In breaking her own record set on the opening day of the meet, Taliaferro touched the wall in 49.86 to become the first member of the program to ever post a time under 50 seconds in the 100 free.
-With a mark of 1:59.12 in the 200 back, Utley moved into second place on the Commodores’ all-time performer list.
-Ciezczak had set the record in the 100 free in the heat prior to Taliaferro’s swim after finishing in 50.05, with the junior and Abby Francis (50.37) now ranking second and third, respectively, on the school’s all-time top-10 list.
-Three other Commodores finished with career-best marks in the event: Hannah Weissman (51.37), Jenna Ravarino (52.13) and Olivia Solimine (52.35).
-Emily Carpenter recorded a season-best 2:01.25 mark in the 200 back, the second time during the meet she posted her lowest time of the season in an event.
-Freshman Liv Gooding closed out her first season at the collegiate level with a career-low 2:20.65 time in the 200 breast.
-Mercedes Traba was Vandy’s lone competitor in the 1,650 free, posting a 17:13.11 mark in the race.
