Swimming: Commodores show out at Last Chance

Aubrey Hull made a second NCAA B cut and Kailia Utley set a new school record in the 200 IM at the Last Chance Invitational.

Connor Campbell

A Vanderbilt swimmer swimming freestyle against Southern Illinois, as photographed on Feb. 1, 2025. (Hustler Multimedia/Connor Campbell)

By Vincent Xu, Deputy Sports Editor

Mar 4, 2025

Vanderbilt Swimming took part in the Last Chance Invitational hosted by the University of Tennessee from Feb. 28 to March 1 as a final opportunity for swimmers to meet championship time standards before the postseason. Aubrey Hull did just that, meeting the NCAA B Standard in the 200 backstroke. Several other swimmers impressed as well, including Kailia Utley, whose performance at last year’s invitational made her the first Commodore to compete at the NCAA Championships since 1989.

Merritt Zieminick broke five minutes in the 500-yard freestyle for the first time in her career, dropping 4.51 seconds to go 4:57.55 in the event’s final. Bailey Ratzburg and Quinlan Hinerfeld went two-three in the next final — the 200 individual medley — with times of 2:04.30 and 2:05.48, respectively. Utley set a new school record in the 200 IM prelims (2:00.17) and was the event’s top qualifier, but the senior did not swim in the final.

Kate Heintz narrowly missed out on the 100 butterfly podium, swimming into fourth with a season-best time of 55:54. Hull took part in a formidable 200 backstroke final, where five swimmers met an NCAA Championship cut, including her. The first-year swam a 1:56.39 to come in fourth place and meet her second NCAA cut of the season — narrowly missing the school record by 0.06.

Ryen Bosuro picked up another podium for the Commodores in the 200 free final, placing second with a time of 1:52.13 — a season best. The next Commodore to grace the podium took the top spot; Utley continued her stellar weekend by finishing first in the 100 fly with a time of 1:56.07.

Vanderbilt then took the top two spots in the 200 free final, but there were only two swimmers in the final: Kendall Hall and Maya Goel. Hall took first with a season-best 1:53.44 and Goel followed with a 1:57.50. Zieminick finished the weekend by qualifying for the CSCAA B Standard in the 1650 free with a career-best 17:02.56 to claim third in the event.

Vanderbilt will wait to see if it send swimmers to the NCAA Swim and Dive Championships from March 19–22 at Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, North Carolina.

About the Contributors

Vincent Xu, Deputy Sports Editor

Vincent Xu (‘27) is planning on majoring in human & organizational development and economics in Peabody College. Outside of The Hustler, Vincent enjoys playing sports, watching sports, talking sports and a couple of other things that are sadly unrelated to sports. He can be reached at vincent.c.xu@vanderbilt.edu.

Connor Campbell, Senior Staffer

Connor Campbell (’25) is a human and organizational development and cinema and media arts major from Staten Island, N.Y. Connor shares a strong love for both sports and film, leading to his interest in The Ringer and, consequently, his casual and quippy style of writing. Outside of The Hustler, Connor does freelance photography, runs the social media accounts for Vanderbilt Club Hockey and Camp Kesem’s Vanderbilt Chapter and is the president of Vanderbilt Tap That. You can reach him at connor.v.campbell@vanderbilt.edu.

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