After losses to both South Carolina and Georgia on Oct. 11, Vanderbilt Swimming fell 101-232 to Illinois and 135-194 against Indiana State at the House of ‘Paign Invite from Oct. 25-26.
The meet had a different event format than normal, with scoring including both normal and bonus races. The bonus heats comprised a super final in all four 100-yard events on opening night along with each of the four 50-yard stroke races in a shootout format the next day.
First-year Aubrey Hull blazed her way through the meet, seizing first place in all individual events, including the 50, 100 and 200-yard backstroke races. Junior Quinlan Hinerfeld added to Vanderbilt’s strength in backstroke, placing first in the normal 100-yard event and the first individual event of the meet.
Continuing the success of the first-years on Day One, Emily Constable placed second in the 100-yard breaststroke super final — a race format containing only the top swimmer from each school.
Senior Kailia Utley and graduate student Reagan Mathieson placed third in the super final of the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard freestyle, respectively, but the Commodores lost momentum the rest of the day, barely cracking the top five in the other normal and relay races.
The Commodores returned with energy to post several strong performances against the Fighting Illini and Sycamores on Saturday. Utley snagged a win in the 200-yard fly, her first individual event of the day, while Mathieson emerged victorious in the 50-yard freestyle super final achieving her first individual win as a Commodore.
Constable kept her momentum from Friday, finishing second in the 50-yard breaststroke super final and third in the normal 200-yard breastroke.
Senior Mercedes Traba finished third in the normal 400-yard individual medley — the final individual race of the competition — recording a time of 4:29.22 and meeting the CSCAA NIC B standard in the event.
“It was a challenging two days for us,” head coach Jeremy Organ said. “Saturday’s swims looked a little more like where we would be, but it was too much to overcome from Friday. We had some good swims from a handful of individuals, [but] now we need to turn our attention to the next couple of weeks and preparations for the midseason meet at South Carolina.”
The Commodores now look to pick up the energy at their final meet of the fall season when they return to South Carolina from Nov. 20-22.
