Jan. 17, 2009
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Freshman diver Nicole Woodworth dove into the Vanderbilt diving record books Saturday, tallying scores of 288.53 and 289.05 in the one and three-meter dive, but it wasn’t enough to top South Carolina as they defeated the Commodores 152-115 at the Carolina Natatorium.
Woodworth’s 288.53 in the one-meter dive tops former Vanderbilt All-American Patti Woodcock’s 269.60, which she set in 1987. The Seattle native also tied Woodcock’s 22-year old mark of 289.05 in the three-meter dive. Woodworth finished the day with two top-three finishes.
In the swimming events, the Commodores were led by the freshmen trio of Allie Voss, Laura Dillon and Kelly Obranowicz as they recorded first-place finishes in their respective events.
Voss, who returned to her hometown (Columbia, S.C.) Saturday, set the tone for the `Dores early on by swimming to a first-place photo-finish in the 100-yard breaststroke. Voss’s 1:08.72 topped USC Sherah Aiken by 1/100th of a second.
Dillon continued her dominance in the 200-yard breaststroke as she took home the top honors with a 2:28.44. Teammates Voss and Elizabeth Brunk followed Dillon for second and third place in the 200 breaststroke. Dillon scored three more team points in the 200-yard butterfly after swimming a personal best 2:10.54, good for third place.
Obranowicz, the team’s top butterfly swimmer in the fall season, continued her dominance in the 100-yard butterfly as she swam a 58.12, to claim the top-spot. Dillon and Leigh-Ann Axt rounded out the top-three in the 100 butterfly after posting 1:01.19 and 1:02.14, respectively.
Sophomore Christina Chao and freshman Jackie Roeing cruised to first and second place finishes in the 500-yard freestyle with times of 5:30.24 and 5:34.69.
VU also saw some success in the 200-yard freestyle relay as the team of Zoe Cooper-Surma, Jennifer Molchan, Obranowicz and Voss recorded a first-place time of 1:40.70.
The Commodores will practice next week to prepare for their next competition against Marshall on Jan. 31. The meet against Thundering Herd will be the last home meet of the season for the Commodores at the Centennial Sportsplex pool.
