Jan. 31, 2009
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Vanderbilt swimmers Jennifer Molchan, Kelly Obranowicz, Laura Dillon and Allison Voss all swam to first-place finishes, but it wasn’t enough as Marshall edged the Commodores 177-123 in front of a large crowd at the Centennial Sportsplex Saturday. The meet against the Thundering Herd marked the final home and regular season meet for the `Dores.
“I thought overall we competed and swam well today,” head coach Jeremy Organ said. “We saw some things that we need to work on and correct before we head to the SEC Championships in February.
“Unfortunately we didn’t come out on top at our last home meet of the season, but we will bring a lot of enthusiasm and excitement to the SEC’s in a couple of weeks.”
VU opened the meet on the right track, posting first and third-place finishes in the 200-yard medley relay. The relay of Alexandra Jennings, Obranowicz, Voss and Molchan took first-place honors swimming a 1:52.26. The relay of Rebecca Rogers, Elizabeth Brunk, Zoe Cooper-Surma and Dillon finished in a close third with a time of 1:54.52.
Two events later, Molchan cruised to one of her two first-place finishes on the day with a 1:57.99 in the 200-yard freestyle. The sophomore also took top honors in the 100-yard freestyle, swimming a 54.41. At the end of day Molchan’s individual performances accounted for 21 of VU’s 123 points.
Minutes later, Dillon continued her torrid streak in the 200-yard breaststroke with a 2:25.57, good for first. The former South Lakes High standout wasn’t finished racking up points for the `Dores however. Dillon picked up another eight points for the Commodores team total after recording runner-up finishes in the 200-yard butterfly (2:10.57) and 200-yard individual medley (2:14.68).
The Commodores picked up 13 more points as Allie Voss and Elizabeth Brunk finished first and second in the 100-yard breaststroke with times of 1:08.55 and 1:09.20, respectively.
Sophomore Alexandra Jennings, the team’s top returning backstroker, also contributed in a big way Saturday, posting top-three finishes in both the 100 and 200 backstroke.
Fellow freshman, Obranowicz notched a pair of top-three finishes of her own Saturday in the 100-yard butterfly and 50-yard freestyle. The Marietta, Ga., native’s 100-butterfly time of 57.79 topped the second-place finisher by nearly 2.5 seconds. Cooper-Surma closed out the meet in dramatic fashion by swimming a season-best 50-free split of 24.78 in the final leg of the first-place 200-freestyle relay.
Vanderbilt will be off of competition the next couple of weeks as it prepares for the SEC Swimming and Diving Championships Feb. 18-21. This year’s conference meet will be hosted by Auburn in Auburn, Ala.
