Vanderbilt concluded its fall season with a sixth-place finish out of 10 teams at the Gamecock Invitational in Columbia, South Carolina, from Nov. 20-22. The Commodores scored 412 points over the course of the meet.
Senior Mercedes Traba kicked off the meet by breaking her own school record in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4 minutes, 49.32 seconds. The Florida native placed third in the event’s B Final and met the CSCAA NIC B cut.
Momentum on Day One continued with four Commodores achieving the NIC B standard in the 200-yard individual medley finals. Graduate student Reagan Mathieson placed fourth in the B Final with a time of 2:02.07 and was followed by senior Kailia Utley who came in at 2:03.66. Junior Quinlan Hinerfeld touched at 2:04.08 and was closely followed by sophomore Bailey Ratzburg at 2:04.25 in the C Final.
The energy continued on Day Two, with three Commodores advancing to A Finals — composed of the top 10 swimmers in each event — to put up several record-breaking swims.
Traba continued her success from Day One, placing 10th in the 400-yard individual medley A Final. First-years Aubrey Hull and Emily Constable both finished sixth in the A Final of the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard breaststroke, respectively. Hull’s 54.03 finish broke the previous school record set at last season’s SEC Championships. Constable’s 1:01.72 finish set a new first-year record and put her fifth on Vanderbilt’s all-time performer list in the event.
The energy continued in the relays, as the 200-yard medley relay team of Hull, Constable, junior Jenna Ravarino and Mathieson made the NIC B cut with a time of 1:40.18. The swim was third-fastest on Vanderbilt’s all-time performance list for the event.
In the 800-yard freestyle relay, the last event of the day, Vanderbilt’s A-team of Traba, graduate student Libby Gilbert, Mathieson and sophomore Kate Heintz finished fourth with a time of 7:28.25.
The last day of competition saw continued strength, as several Commodores set new school and personal records.
Mathieson broke the school record set last spring in the 100-yard freestyle after finishing with a time of 49.84 in the race prelims. Hull beat her own first-year record in the 200-yard backstroke set at this season’s previous South Carolina meet with a time of 1:57.43.
The quartet of Mathieson, Hull, senior Megan Ciezczak and junior Ryen Bosuro placed ninth in the 400-yard freestyle relay, posting a time of 3:24.01 to move to fourth on the Commodores’ all-time performer list in the event.
The Commodores will take a short break from competition before returning to the pool on Jan. 3 in Nashville to face Kentucky.
