Nov. 8, 2013
LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Vanderbilt swim team dropped to 1-3 in dual meets this season with its 154-104 loss to Liberty, on Friday, in Lynchburg, Va. The Commodores could only manage two first-place finishes against the Flame.
“The girls competed well today,” said Vandy head coach Jeremy Organ. “It was a challenging environment to swim in and we are proud of how they competed. We need to do a better job of closing out close races going forwards. We now have two weeks to prepare and continue to get better before the Georgia Tech Invitational.”
Chrissy Oberg and Elly Faulkner picked up the only two Vandy wins of the evening, setting LaHaye Aquatic Center pool records in the process. Oberg took the top spot in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:03.50, while Faulkner took first in the 400-yard IM, touching the wall at 4:30.49.
Freshmen Lauren Egan, Kayla Moran, Rachel Koch, Carrie Bencic, Kathryn Coughlin, Alexandra Blankenburg and Kathryn Babbin all picked up at least one top-three finish for the `Dores. Bencic, Coughlin and Blankenburg each finished in the top three of multiple events.
Bencic took second in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:53.57, less than .2 seconds off the leader. She also finished second in the 500 freestyle (5:03.76), once again missing the top spot by a hair. Liberty’s Heather McCorkel took the top finish, just .1 seconds faster than Bencic at 5:03.66.
Coughlin took second in the 100-yard breaststroke, touching the wall at a time of 1:07.92, she also took third in the 200 breast at 2:31.69. Egan took second in the event, finishing with a time of 2:27.20.
Liberty’s Jess Reinhardt, who swam at last seasons NCAA meet, took first in both the 100 and 200-yard butterfly. The Liberty sophomore finished in front of Blankenburg in the 200, who finished with a time of 2:08.63. Blankenburg also took second-place in the 400 IM, behind Faulkner.
The `Dores will be back in the pool in two weeks when they head to Atlanta for the Georgia Tech Invitational.
