Jan. 27, 2018
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Vanderbilt Commodores swim team won their final dual of the season in spectacular fashion Saturday, winning 13-of-14 events to defeat Arkansas Little Rock 150-92 at the Donaghey Student Center.
The Commodores opened the dual strong, taking first and second place in the first event of the day, the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Johanna Goldblatt, Hannah and Madeline Hunt and Breanna Sapienza won the race for the Dores, while Madison Eaker, Lindsey Gordon, Lauren Bergmann and Brenda Cha finished second.
Vanderbilt earned a third-place finish in the second event of the dual, the 300-yard freestyle. After that race, the Dores swept the rest of the competition, winning the next 12 straight events. Summer Brown took the third-place finish for Vanderbilt in the 300-yard freestyle.
The team of Goldblatt, Sapienza and the Hunt sisters stole the show for the rest of the dual, led off by Sapienza and Goldblatt trading first place finishes for four events in a row. Sapienza won the 50-yard butterfly in 25.31 seconds followed by Goldblatt winning the 50-yard backstroke in 26.98 seconds.
Sapienza then took first in the 100-yard butterfly, which has been a consistent theme this season. Following her win, Goldblatt took first again, this time winning the 100-yard backstroke in 58.79 seconds. This was the first meet back for Goldblatt after she missed the tri-meet with Houston and Arkansas last week due to an illness.
The majority of the indiviual races were 50 and 100-yard sprints and no race was longer than 300 yards to create a unique event for the Dores.
“This was a bit of a different format, but everyone had a good time,” said head coach Jeremy Organ. “It was a nice break from the normal form of events, it had a lot more excitement.”
Not to be outdone, the Hunt sisters – Hannah and Madeline – traded two wins apiece as well. Hannah took first in the 100-yard breaststroke followed by Madeline’s win in the 100-yard freestyle. Hannah then won the 50-yard breaststroke, and Madeline finished with a win in the 50-yard freestyle.
Brenda Cha also took a first place finish, winning the 100-yard individual medley in 1:00.12 seconds. She was the only individual win for the Dores outside of Sapienza, Goldblatt and the Hunt sisters.
Notably missing from this dual were the distance races, which the Dores have performed well in this year, thanks to Lara Hernandez-Tome and Selah Peacock. Organ said the sprint format went into the team’s preparation.
“This was our first time racing like this,” Organ said. “Our distance girls had to swim down, so that was pretty different for them.”
The Dores won the final event to close out the competition with teams taking first and third in the 100-yard freestyle relay.
With this season’s dual meets now finished, VU sets its sights on the SEC Championships. The conference championships take place February 14-18 in College Station, Texas.
