Jan. 20, 2017
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt swim team jumped back in the pool for the first time in 2017 for day one of its tri-meet with Arkansas and Houston. After the first day of competition, the Commodores trail Houston 89-78 and Arkansas 117-50.
The Commodores opened the meet with a third place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The team of Paige Hamilton, Kayla Moran, Kathryn Coughlin and Johanna Goldblatt finished with a time of 1:37.58.
The ‘Dores stayed on the podium in the next race as freshman Selah Peacock earned a third place finish in the 1000-yard freestyle (10:19.42), the meet’s longest race. Peacock has finished on the podium all four times she has raced in this event this season. Senior Kathryn Babbin finished sixth in the event with a season-best time of 10:55.99.
Vanderbilt returned to the podium in the 100-yard breaststroke as school-record holder Kara Lucenti swam to a runner-up finish. She had a time of 1:04.98 to earn her best finish in the event this season and her third podium finish in this event on the year.
The next event was the 200-yard butterfly and the ‘Dores rounded out the podium, finishing second and third in the event. Senior Rachel Koch finished in second with a time of 2:04.22, her third podium finish in this event on the year. Junior Breanna Sapienza finished third with a time of 2:04.66, she earned her first podium finish in this event this season.
In the 50-yard freestyle, the Commodores picked up their lone win on the afternoon. Freshman Paige Hamilton finished first with a time of 24.03, edging out the second place finisher by just .05 seconds. This was Hamilton’s first individual win of her collegiate career. She is the fourth Commodore freshman to win an individual race this season.
The ‘Dores finished day one on a strong note in the 400-yard medley relay. The team of Johanna Goldblatt, Kathryn Coughlin, Breanna Sapienza, and Paige Hamilton raced to a second place finish with a time of 3:51.18. They beat out the third place finisher by .26 seconds and the time was a season-best for all four girls.
Vanderbilt, Arkansas, and Houston will resume the tri-meet tomorrow morning at 11 am CT. It will be senior day for the six Commodores seniors prior to the meet. The ceremonies will begin at 10:45 am CT to honor Kathryn Babbin, Carrie Bencic, Alexandra Blankenburg, Kathryn Coughlin, Rachel Koch and Kayla Moran.
