The Commodores traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee, for the Women’s SEC Swimming and Diving Championships Feb. 17-21. While the team placed last, swimmers achieved six individual and four relay marks that are now among the top 10 in program history.
“This week was a big learning experience for the group that is coming back,” head coach Jeremy Organ said. “There’s a lot they can take and put into next year’s team as we continue to grow the program. We’re really excited about the future.”
Feb. 17
The Commodores recorded two season-high marks to open the week with times of 1:40.45 in the 200 medley relay and 7:25.11 in the 800 free relay. Merritt Zieminick also competed in the 1650 free for the fourth time in her college career, finishing with a time of 17:27.44.
The 200 medley relay team, composed of Aubrey Hull, Emily Constable, Merdith DiPasquale and Melissa Cowen, placed No. 13 behind Kentucky, who finished with a time of 1:39.77. Tennessee took home first place with a new SEC record time of 1:32.80.
After an early takeoff disqualified Arkansas in the 800 free relay, Vanderbilt placed No. 12 in the event. Bailey Ratzburg, Ellie Butler, Madelyn Porter and Kate Heintz moved into the No. 6 spot in program record books with their swim.
Feb. 18
Individual preliminary heats kicked into full gear Wednesday as the Commodores competed in the 100 back, 200 fly and 100 breast. Aubrey Hull led the way for the Commodores in the 100 back with a time of 53.93. Her time was just 15 hundredths of a second short of qualifying for the finals.
Cowen also came just short of qualifying for the finals in the 100 breast, finishing less than six tenths of a second behind the final qualifier. In the 200 fly, Kate Heintz was the top finisher for Vanderbilt with a season-low mark of 2:01.90. Other notable performances from the second day of competition included season-best marks from Porter and DiPasquale in the 200 fly and Grace Ciaramitaro and Ryen Bosuro in the 100 back.
“There were some opportunities there to advance. It’s frustrating that we just couldn’t put those little pieces together,” Organ said after the second day. “I think there’s a lot of confidence in swims [Hull] and [Cowen] have coming up and that we can keep putting ourselves in a position where we can get to those second swims. But still, there were a lot of really good things to take from the morning. Now we just have to keep that momentum and that mindset going and try to get back to work tomorrow.”
Feb. 19
The third day of competition saw the Commodores competing in the 100 fly, 400 individual medley, 200 free and 400 medley relay. Heintz performed well on Thursday, moving into the No. 8 spot in program history for the 100 fly with a career-best 55.15 and helping the team secure the seventh best time in program history (3:42.01) in the 400 IM, alongside Hull, Cowen and Bosuro. DiPasquale and Ava Allingham also posted career-best marks in the 100 fly.
Both Commodores who competed in the 400 IM posted times in the top 10 in Vanderbilt’s record books, with Bailey Ratzburg finishing at 4:23.21 and Liv Gooding finishing at 4:25.66. Six ’Dores also competed in the 200 free, led by Porter, who finished with a time of 1:50.55, the fastest time of any Vanderbilt swimmer in the event this season.
Feb. 20
Cowen started the Commodores off strong on Friday with a 2:12.92 finish in the 200 breast, just three tenths of a second and two places away from qualifying for the finals in the event. Harper finished shortly after Cowen with a time of 2:16.13, good for the No. 9 spot in Vanderbilt’s record books.
“Today was a day we were kind of looking forward to. We thought we had a shot at getting into that 200 breast final,” Organ said. “[Cowen] had a good swim and just missed out, but she came back with a good lead off to a strong relay that capped off the night for us.”
Hull led the ’Dores in the 50 free (23.64), followed closely by Olivia Solimine (23.80) and Abby Hite (23.96). Porter’s time of 4:54.88 was the Commodores’ best in the 500 free to conclude the morning session. The ’Dores returned Friday night to compete in the 200 free relay. Cowen, Hull, Hite and Solimine placed No. 11 in the relay following the disqualification of Kentucky and Auburn.
Feb. 21
The SEC Championships wrapped up on Saturday with more record-breaking swims for the Black and Gold. Ratzburg and Harper moved into the all-time top-10 Vanderbilt marks in the 200 IM with times of 2:02.83 and 2:03.16, respectively.
Nine Commodores competed in the 100 free, led by Cowen with a mark of 52.52. Four of the nine — Cowen, Heintz, Emily Constable and Elayne Chen — performed their career-best swims in the event. Hull once again led Vanderbilt in the 200 back, posting a time of 1:58.15, and Hull, Cowen, Heintz and Ratzburg brought the Commodores home with a 3:24.67 finish in the 400 free relay.
Vanderbilt Swimming will be back in the pool for the NCAA Last Chance Meet Feb. 27.
