COLUMBIA, S.C. — Mercedes Traba broke her own school record while recording the top individual result of the night Wednesday for Vanderbilt swimming as competition opened at the Gamecock Invitational held at the USC Natatorium.
Four other Commodores—Reagan Mathieson, Megan Ciezczak, Kailia Utley and Jenna Ravarino—qualified for B Finals as well in the first of three days at the competition.
“The 500 free was really well swum by Mercedes, that was great to see. I think it will set the tone for her for the rest of the week,” head coach Jeremy Organ said. “This was really a solid day to start this championship, I think there are a lot of good things we can take from today that we need to carry into tomorrow.”
Meet Highlights
-Traba finished third in the 500 free B Final.
-Both Mathieson and Utley advanced to the B Final of the 200 IM, with the former placing fourth in the race.
-Ciezczak and Ravarino moved on the 50 free B Final as well.
-Mathieson also qualified for the B Final of the 50 free but was scratched prior to competition at night.
Notes
-Traba broke her own school record and met the CSCAA NIC B cut after touching the wall in 4:49.32 in the finals of the 500 free.
-Four Commodores—Mathieson (2:02.07), Utley (2:03.66), Quinlan Hinerfeld (2:04.08) and Bailey Ratzburg (2:04.25) —achieved the NIC B standard in 200 IM finals.
-Mathieson now stands third on the school’s all-time performer list after posting the fastest time of her career, while Utley and Hinerfeld rank ninth and 10th in the event.
-Madelyn Porter finished with the best mark of her career in the 500 free after recording a time of 4:57.54.
-Amelia Harper had a personal-best performance after touching the wall in 2:05.95 in the 200 IM, with Liv Gooding adding a career-low 2:06.23 mark and Emily Constable finishing with a career-best time of 2:07.87 in the event.
-Mathieson (23.35), Ravarino (23.56), Ciezczak (23.65), Hannah Weissman (23.78), Ryen Bosuro (24.09) and Karsyn Cook (24.20) all ended up with season-best marks in the 50 free.
-Kate Heintz and Kendall Hall posted season-low times of 5:00.10 and 5:04.24, respectively, in the 500 free prelims in the morning.
-Grace Ciaramitaro (2:10.26) and Taylor Carey (2:11.37) each recorded their lowest marks of the season in the 200 IM prelims as well.
