Jan. 29, 2011
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The Vanderbilt women’s swim team captured its first victory of the season Saturday by topping Marshall 160.5-136.5 in the Frederick A. Fitch Natatorium. The Commodores were able to put illness aside and beat the Thundering Herd for the second-consecutive season.
“The girls did a very good job today,” head coach Jeremy Organ said. “With the flu bug hitting the team early in the week it really took a great team effort to come out on top today.”
Besides being the first victory of the season, this also marked the first time since the program resurrected in 2006 that the Commodores have beat a program twice. Last season, the Commodores swam past the Thundering Herd 120-118 and with this win, the series now stands at 2-2.
Erika Deardorf highlighted the day by breaking her own school record in the first individual event of the dual meet. The sophomore swam the 1000-yard freestyle in 10:09.71, five seconds faster than the previous record that she set against Marshall last season. Heading into the meet, Deardorf held the previous season-best time (10:17.43) set against the University of Kansas on January 8.
“I was really happy with my performance today,” Deardorf said. “It felt good to get out there and the training has paid off, I wasn’t sore at all. I gave it my all and everything worked out.”
The Texas native also set the team’s season-best time in the 500-yard freestyle in a time of 5:02.49 on her way to a first-place finish. Freshman Michelle Williamson took second while Margaux Georgiadis took third in the event.
Georgiadis took first in the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 1:55.34 while Amy Salce finished second (1:55.46) and senior Jennifer Molchan came up third (1:57.28). The Commodores also finished first, second and third in the 50-yard freestyle behind Melissa Roberts (25.01), Anna Fargo (25.67) and Chloe Ott (25.79), respectively. Roberts followed up by earning a victory in the 100-yard freestyle in a time of 54.13.
Rose Cornelson had a solid day, finishing first and setting a personal season-best time in the 100-yard backstroke in a time of 59.65. Chelsea Morey finished two seconds behind to capture second place. Cornelson also finished second (2:07.18) in the 200-yard backstroke with Amy Salce winning (2:06.49) the event.
“Rose had a couple of really nice backstroke swims today,” said Organ. “She has been looking great in the water and I am really excited about what she can do in the coming weeks.”
The `Dores did well in the breaststroke events with Laura Dillon winning the 100-yard and setting a personal season-best with a time of 1:06.37 while Sarah Lynch finished second in a time of 1:07.83. Freshman Chloe Ott took first in the 200-yard in a time of 2:26.90, almost three seconds faster than the runner up.
Vanderbilt looks to keep the momentum going when it closes out the season against Tulane for Senior Day on February 5 in Nashville before competing at the SEC Championships.
Make sure to stay tuned to vucommodores.com for updates heading into Senior Day.
