Nov. 19, 2011
Hilltopper Invitational Day 1 Results
Caroline Thomas has helped the Vanderbilt swimming team find itself in third place through day one at the Western Kentucky Invitational.
Western Kentucky leads the event with 536 points. Evansville has a slight edge on the Commodores with 344 points, to Vanderbilt’s 324. Arkansas-Little Rock sits in fourth with 161 points, while the University of the Cumberlands is in fifth with 108 points.
The highlight of the day for Vanderbilt was the 50 free, with freshman Caroline Thomas taking home a first place finish. After posting a prelim time of 24.55, which was third in morning action, Thomas swam the final in 24.16, edging Evansville’s Michea Reinitz by .11 seconds for the win.
Vanderbilt also had a solid performance in the 400 medley relay. The team of Chrissy Oberg, Laura Dillon, Lauren Torres and Thomas posted a finals time of 3:50.81 to finish second, less than a second behind the Hilltoppers’ winning team. The squad narrowly missed setting a school record.
Margaret Freeman started the night off strong by winning the “C” final in the 500 freestyle. That was followed by Amy Salce winning the “B” final. Meanwhile, The 200 IM saw Elly Faulkner win the “B” final with a time of 2:07.45.
Overall, Head Coach Jeremy Organ was pleased with his team’s performance.
“It was a really good night for us on Friday,” Oberg said. “Liz Freeman’s performance in the 500 free really got everyone excited and we just kept building from there.”
Action in Bowling Green, Ky., resumes today. Events include the 200 medley relay, 400 individual medley, 100 fly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and 800 freestyle relay.
