Vanderbilt Swimming lost to Tulane 150-87 on Sept. 27 at the Reily Center Natatorium in New Orleans, Louisiana. This marks the Commodores’ first loss against the Green Wave since 2015, but, Vanderbilt still leads the all-time series, 10-7.
While the Commodores fell short of a team victory, there were still several notable performances across the board. They opened the meet by winning the 200-yard medley relay — composed of first-years Aubrey Hull and Emily Constable and seniors Kailia Utley and Megan Ciezczak — with a time of 1:45.10. Vanderbilt’s other relay team — consisting of Olivia Solimine, Emily Carpenter, Libby Gilbert and Hannah Weissman — placed third in the event with a time of 1:38.68.
Senior Mercedes Traba built on this momentum by winning the 1000-yard freestyle, the first individual race of the meet, clocking in at 10:18.58. Her time met the B standard for the National Invitational Championship (NIC), a meet organized by the CSCAA in the spring. Traba also took runner-up in the 500-yard freestyle, finishing at 5:07.02, while Utley finished second in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 57.31.
The youngest members of the team also had strong showings, as Hull won the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 55.36, meeting the NIC B qualification standard. Her success didn’t stop there, as the Charlotte, North Carolina, native’s backstroke time (25.80) in the leadoff leg of the 200-yard medley relay also met the NIC B standard. Her efforts pushed her up to eighth on the Commodores’ all-time performer list for the 50-yard back. Constable took first in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing with an impressive 1:04:25.
Graduate student Reagan Mathieson finished second in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 51.65 and third in the 200-yard individual medley at 2:07.25. Weissman came in right behind her in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 53.40. Gilbert flashed potential as well, placing third in both the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke, with times of 1:55.68 and 56.32, respectively. Junior Jenna Ravarino rounded things out with a third-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.28.
“Overall, it wasn’t the result we wanted, but this first meet gives us a lot of things to work on the next couple of weeks before we head to South Carolina,” head coach Jeremy Organ said. “We had some good swims, there are good things to look at, like Mercedes [Traba] with a strong showing in the 1,000 to get us going. I really liked what we saw from our two freshmen, Aubrey [Hull] and Emily [Constable]. I think they handled their first college meet very well.”
The Commodores will race next on Friday, Oct. 11, at 3 p.m. CDT on the road against South Carolina.
