Nov. 19, 2016
HOUSTON, Texas – The Vanderbilt swim team was back in the pool at the CRWC Natatorium for day two of the Phill Hansel Invitational. The ‘Dores had some impressive swims throughout the day and hold in ninth place due to the diving events after day two.
The highlight of Saturday’s action was junior Breanna Sapienza’s swim in the 100-yard butterfly final. Sapienza finished in first place in the “A” final with a NCAA B Standard time of 54.23. She also finished with the best time in the prelims swim earlier in the day.
The Commodores had five other swimmers in the 100-fly finals Saturday night. Kayla Moran finished second (55.47) and Rachel Koch finished tied for third (55.56) in the “B” final. Paige Hamilton finished in third place (55.95) in the “C” final. Breinne Thorne and Erin Primdahl rounded out the Commodores in the “E” final and finished fifth (57.87) and seventh (58.56) respectively.
The Commodores had one other “A” finals swim Saturday night. Kara Lucenti swam in the 100-yard breaststroke “A” final and finished in eighth place with a time of 1:03.07. Lucenti had a season-best time in the prelims of 1:02.50. Kathryn Coughlin swam in the “B” final of the 100-yard breaststroke and finished second with a time of 1:03.06. Brenda Cha was the other Commodore swimming in the 100-yard breaststroke finals. She was in the “E” final and she finished eighth with a season-best time 1:07.64.
Vanderbilt’s relay teams had great swims at the beginning and end of the day two finals swims. In the 200-yard medley relay to start the night, the relay team of Johanna Goldblatt, Kara Lucenti, Breanna Sapienza and Kayla Moran finished in sixth place with a time of 1:42.68. In the final swim of the evening, the 800-yard freestyle relay, the team of Madison Eaker, Namilla Sanchez, Carrie Bencic and Summer Brown swam to a seventh place finish (7:30.75).
In the 100-yard backstroke finals, the ‘Dores had four swimmers in four different finals races. Kara Lucenti finished eighth in the “B” final with a time of 56.71. Madison Eaker finished second in the “C” final with a time 56.08. Madeline Hunt finished sixth in the “D” final (58.44) and Breinne Thorne finished sixth in the “E” final (58.70).
Other finals swims on the evening for the Commodores included Alexandra Blankenburg finishing first in the “D” final of the 400-yard IM (4:26.22). Carrie Bencic swam to a fourth place finish in the “C” final of the 200-yard freestyle. Summer Brown and Namilla Sanchez finished second (1:51.74) and sixth (1:52.98) respectively in the “D” final of the 200-yard freestyle. Finally, Selah Peacock finished eighth in the “E” final of the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:57.75.
The Commodores will be back in the pool tomorrow for the final day of the Phill Hansel Invitational. Prelim swims begin at 10 am and the final swims will take place at 5 pm. The order of events for tomorrow will be 1650 Freestyle, 200 Backstroke, 100 Freestyle, 200 Breaststroke, 200 Butterfly, Platform Dive and 400 Freestyle Relay.
