Oct. 13, 2007
CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Vanderbilt swimming and diving team lost their season opening meet to Southern Illinois 151-75. The Commodores picked up a pair of wins in individual races, with Leigh-Ann Axt winning the 200-yard butterfly and Christina Chao winning the 100-yard freestyle. The wins mark the first individual victories the Commodores have had in a dual meet since the program was restarted last year.
“I thought the meet went pretty well for our first meet,” head coach Jeremy Organ said. “There were some things that we did well and other things that we need to work on. Overall, I was pretty pleased with how we performed.”
Axt posted an impressive performance in the 200-yard butterfly, winning the race by four seconds over her closest competitor. The freshman posted a time of 2:06:42 to finish first. Axt also recorded a second-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle, finishing with a time of 5:07:62.
The Commodores most impressive event of the day came in the 100-yard freestyle. Chao led the way, winning with a time of 58:24. The Commodores also claimed the next three spots with Mary Marschner, Jessie Capps and Ashley Meadows finishing second through fourth, respectively.
Vanderbilt returns to action next Friday when the team faces North Florida in Jacksonville. The Commodores will face Georgia Southern in Statesboro, Ga., next Saturday.
