Feb. 18, 2011
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Vanderbilt swimmers wrapped up day three of the 2011 SEC Championships by shattering the school record on the lone relay of the evening at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. Individually, the Commodores had 18 season-best times in five events on Friday. After day three, the `Dores have 64 points.
Make sure to check out the Vandy 2011 SEC Championship blog for updates on what the team was up to.
“We had very good day,” head coach Jeremy Organ said. “We had some great swims and a number of lifetime bests. I’m really proud of the girls on the relay team. It was important for us to move forward in this meet.”
The relay team of Rose Cornelson, Laura Dillon, Jess Eccher and Melissa Roberts finished the 400-yard IM in a record-setting time of 3:50.69. Cornelson and Eccher were on the relay team that previously held the record set at last season’s SEC Championships. The duo was paired with Allie Voss and Jennifer Molchan when they swam the event in 3:52.71. Heading into the day, Cornelson, Eccher, Roberts and freshman Chloe Ott were the owners of the previous season-best time of 3:55.69.
“I got off to a really strong start,” said Cornelson, the leadoff swimmer in the event. “I felt good going into it after swimming well this morning and I knew I was faster than I was last year.”
Before the event began today, Jess Eccher broke another school record late last night during time trials. After setting the record in the 200-yard IM, Eccher swam the 100-yard backstroke in a time of 57.04. The previous record was held by Wendy Deacon when she swam the event in a time of 57.23 in 1988. The time did not count towards the team score in the SEC Championships but it does earn her a place in the record books.
“My adrenaline was high from my 200 IM,” Eccher said. I don’t get to swim the event [100 backstorke] very often so when I went out there I wasn’t focused on the time; I was focused on getting out there to do my best.”
Eccher has now been a part of three school record-breaking events and looks to have a strong swim in the 200-yard backstroke on the final day of competition.
Day three began with the 400 IM where all three participants set season-best marks. Sophomore Erika Deardorf had the team-best time when she finished the event in 4:30.13. Freshmen Michelle Williamson and Alyx Vernon rounded out the group with times of 3:34.60 and 3:35.49, respectively.
Jess Eccher continued her success by setting a lifetime-best time in the 100-yard butterfly, finishing in 56.20. The Jacksonville native’s time was 1.54 seconds faster than her previous lifetime best set at the WKU Invitational earlier this season. Laura Dillon improved her season-best time by two seconds when she finished in 57.34. Elizabeth Brunk (58.13), Sarah Lynch (58.65) and Rebecca Young (59.18) all had season-best times in the event.
The 200-yard freestyle was highlighted by senior Jennifer Molchan who swam the event in 1:53.30, her fastest swim in her four-year Vanderbilt career. It topped her previous fastest time of 1:55.44 set against Miami on January 11, 2008. Amy Salce swam the fastest time of the day for the `Dores when she finished in 1:52.80, a season-best for the sophomore. Anna Fargo was the final girl to earn a season-best time, finishing in 1:58.72.
All five women who swam the 100-yard breaststroke had their fastest marks with Dillon swimming the top time with 1:04.82. Sarah Lynch came up .33 seconds behind before time-trialing and finishing in 1:05.00 while freshman Chloe Ott improved her top-time to 1:05.93. Elizabeth Brunk’s time of 1:06.76 was a three and a half second improvement from her previous best time. Rebecca Young finished off the group with a time of 1:07.00.
The final individual event of the evening was the 100 backstroke where Rose Cornelson finished in a season-best time of 57.97. Chelsea Morey originally swam the event in a time of 58.95 but did a time-trial at the end of the night and improve her time to 58.24. Similar to Morey, Stephanie Falcone swam the race in a time of 1:01.12 but after time-trialing she improved to 1:00.93.
The final day of the 2011 SEC Championships will begin tomorrow with the 200-yard backstroke followed by the 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, and 200 butterfly before taking a break for the 400 freestyle relay. The day, and competition, will conclude with the 1,650-yard freestyle where Erika Deardorf will look to have a good swim.
Make sure to keep checking the Vandy SEC Blog for more updates.
After day three, Georgia is leading the women with 515 points.
