Nov. 29, 2017
NASHVILLE, Tenn.
The Commodores found the podium early and often Wednesday night, using the final event of the night to secure a 103-102 win over the Marshall Thundering Herd at the Centennial Sportsplex.
Senior Breanna Sapienza won three events on the night, taking first in the 100-yard butterfly and the 50-yard freestyle. Sapienza was also part of the winning 200-yard medley relay team.
“This whole meet was really exciting, I told myself I was determined to win and tried to power through the races at the end,” Sapienza said. The Senior from Medford, Ore. mentioned she was sad knowing Wednesday’s meet would be her last home meet at Vandy, but she was excited to be with her fellow seniors. “It’s been great to be with these girls, I feel honored to have been able to compete with them.”
Coach Jeremy Organ said he was very pleased with the results of the meet, especially to have that kind of a performance on senior night. “This kind of meet is what college swimming is all about, said Organ. “We’re really happy for our seniors, this has been a great bunch of girls and we’ve really enjoyed their competitiveness and what they bring to the table.”
Apart from the win, Organ was also happy with some of the “subtle changes” that the team had from the first half of the season. “We’ve had corrections that we’ve made, and the girls are racing a lot better because of it.”
Five Vanderbilt seniors were honored as part of senior night before the dual, and the seniors swam very strong races in their final home event. Senior Madeline Hunt’s 200 relay team took second, and Summer Brown took second in the 200-yard freestyle. Senior Brenda Cha took a third-place finish in the 50-yard free style to pad onto the senior class’ great night of swims.
Hunt had two of her sisters in town on senior night to watch her final home swims; one sister, Lily was in the stands, and the other, Hannah, was two lanes away in the pool.
“It’s always been exciting to be able to share these meets with my sister,” Hunt said. “”It’s been great having her on the team, and sharing these experiences in college has been really special.”
Sophomore Selah Peacock placed twice on the night and proved to be the Dores’ ace in the distance events, winning the long 1000-yard freestyle and taking third in the 500-yard free.
“I try not to think about the distance, said Peacock, laughing. “I know our training will see me through it.”
Madison Eaker, Brooke Ellis, and Lara Hernandez-Tome all took third place finishes in the 100-yard backstroke, 200-yard IM, and 1000-yard freestyle, respectively.
Vanderbilt has some time to rest before their next event, when they travel to Buies Creek, N.C. to face Campbell on December 30.
“Between finals week and Christmas we’re going to get back to work,” said Organ. We’ll get some good training in and fine tune for the SEC tournament.”
