NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In Vanderbilt swimming’s first competition of the new year, the Commodores dropped a 174-82 decision in an SEC match-up with Kentucky at the Centennial Sportsplex Friday.
Vandy was paced by a pair of seniors, as both Mercedes Traba and Kailia Utley posted multiple top-three finishes in the Dores’ first home meet of the 2024-25 campaign.
“I think there are some things we can take from the races today,” head coach Jeremy Organ said. “I do think we need to be tougher mentally, everyone is tired, but there are things we can use to move forward and get ready for our next meet in two weeks. The experience of Mercedes and Kailia really shows up on tough days like today, and it will be important over the next couple of weeks as we try to keep our foot on the gas pedal. We’re still a good six to seven weeks from the SEC Championships, now it’s time we start fine tuning a lot of our race strategies and see the results that come with that.”
The Commodores will next swim against another SEC opponent, Arkansas, at Centennial Sportsplex on Jan. 17.
Meet Highlights
-The Dores’ 200 medley A relay team placed second in the opening event of the day.
-Traba was runner-up in the meet’s first individual race, the 1,000 free, and she added a third-place finish in the 500 free.
-Utley touched the wall second in the 200 fly while placing third in the 100 fly as well.
-Reagan Mathieson paced the Commodores with a third-place finish in the 100 free, while Emily Constable was third in the 200 breast.
-Vandy ended the meet with its A team finishing third in the 400 free relay.
Notes
-This was Vanderbilt’s first competition since taking part in the Gamecock Invitational Nov. 20-22, as well as the Commodores’ first dual meet since opening the season at Tulane on Sept. 27.
-The Dores are slated to race at home twice more during the regular season, with Arkansas the fourth different SEC opponent Vandy will face during the campaign.
-It marked the Kentucky’s first visit to Nashville to take on the Commodores since Jan. 9, 2015.
