Feb. 16, 2011
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Vanderbilt women’s swim team opened up the 2011 SEC Championships in Gainesville, Fla., by setting season-best times in both relays at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. The Commodores closed out the day in tenth place with 32 points.
You can take an inside look into the full day by checking out the Vanderbilt 2011 SEC Championshp blog.
“We were hoping to be a little stronger but I think it was a good way to start the meet,” fifth-year head coach Jeremy Organ said. “We have the potential to put up some great swims and we are going to come out of the gates strong tomorrow.”
The finals began with the 200-yard medley relay where the team took ninth after a strong swim and an Arkansas disqualification. The team of Rose Cornelson, Sarah Lynch, Jess Eccher and Melissa Roberts finished in a time of 1:46.50, one second faster than the previous-best time set at the WKU Invitational. The relay team was also .20 seconds short of setting the school record set at the 2009 SEC Championships in Auburn, Ala.
“It was great to be here in front of a big crowd and I’m looking forward to the rest of the week,” said freshman Melissa Roberts, on her first SEC Championship event.
Despite finishing tenth in the 800-yard freestyle relay, the `Dores swam a season-best 7:37.13. Freshman Margaux Georgiadis swam the first leg of the relay with Jess Eccher, Erika Deardorf and Amy Salce closing it out. The four women finished eight seconds faster than the previous season-best time set at the WKU Invite. This only marked the third time this season Vanderbilt swam the 800 freestyle relay and this was the first time the four girls swam it together in competition. The team was one second shy of breaking the 13-year-old school record.
At the end of day one, Auburn is leading the women with 166 points with Florida in second with 153 and South Carolina rounding out the top three with 108 points.
The team will open up day two with the 500 freestyle and move on to the 200 IM, 50 freestyle and 200 freestyle relay.
“Tomorrow we will start with Amy, Michelle, Margaux and Sheila in the 500 [freestyle],” Organ said. “We really need those girls to have a strong start to get everybody else going. They are going to be our spark.”
You can check out all of the day’s events on the Vanderbilt 2011 SEC Championship blog. Look for photos, quotes and news updates on the Commodore swim team. Look at today’s posts for pictures of the ESPN interview with coach Jeremy Organ, Jennifer Molchan and Anna Fargo.
