Oct. 8, 2015
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt swim team began its 25th season with an impressive showing in front of a great crowd at Centennial Sportsplex. The Commodores generated several successful podium finishes against the top-ranked Gators, but fell 193-69.
“Overall, I’m really happy with our results from today”, said head coach Jeremy Organ. “I think there were some really good things that we can build on. This is a really good Florida team, and our team battled hard. I’m really happy with what I saw today.”
Vandy opened the meet on a strong note, claiming second and third place finishes in the 400 medley relay, at 3:50.85 and 3:54.00. The highlight of Thursday night’s home opener was Kathryn Coughlin’s first place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke. The junior outswam two Gators, coming out on top with a time of 1:04.64.
“I think we’ve just been working on coming together and becoming a really good team,” stated Coughlin. “Everybody’s been working on getting in really good shape, doing a lot of lifting and getting stronger. There’s been a lot of hard swimming, and I think everyone has been working really hard. We’re all really tired, but I think everyone did really well at getting up and racing tonight for our first meet, so it was fun.”
After making a name for herself last season, two-time Vanderbilt record holder, Breanna Sapienza, added another podium finish to her total as the sophomore seized second in the 100 fly (55.98). The `Dores had a great showing in the event, as Rachel Koch finished just behind Sapienza at 56.98
One of the squad’s newest additions, Johanna Goldblatt, earned third place in the 100 backstroke (57.56), making her first collegiate swim meet one to remember. Other fruitful events for the Commodores included three additional third place finishes in the 50 freestyle, 200 breaststroke and 500 freestyle.
Hannah Martin, the current 50 free record holder, brought in a third place finish swimming in at a time of 24.25. Sophomore Kara Lucenti added points to the VU score in the 200 breast (2:22.40) and Summer Brown excelled in the 500 free at a time of 5:12.37
The relay team of Martin, Brown, Spienza and Kayla Moran helped the `Dores finish the meet like they started, taking second place in the 200 freestyle relay at a time of 1:36.92.
Vanderbilt hits the road next weekend as the team travel across the continent to take on San Diego State on Oct. 15th and San Diego next Friday the 16th.
“You know we race again in a week so we wont have a lot of time,” said Organ, “but I think were just going to continue to work on our intensity in practice and start to work on a few new things. We’re still early on in the season, so we’ve still got a lot of hard work ahead.”
