Vandy heads to SEC Championships

Vanderbilt finished 10th last year in Knoxville

Feb. 17, 2013

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NASHVILLE – Vanderbilt is set to compete in the 2013 Swimming and Diving SEC Championships hosted by Texas A&M University, Feb. 19-23. Competition begins Tuesday morning with preliminary action.

SEC Championships Meet Central

Fans can find out more and follow all the action by going to the SEC’s website here. Live scoring will also be available here. Remember to keep up to date with the Commodore swim team by following them on Twitter at @Vanderbiltswim.

Last Time Out

Vanderbilt (3-5, 0-3) used a team effort to swim past Arkansas-Little Rock, 145-86, in the 2012-13 home finale on Saturday, Feb. 2. With the win, the Commodores improved their record to 3-5 overall. The Commodores opened the meet with a win in the 400 yard medley relay. Chrissy Oberg, Elly Faulkner, Lauren Torres and Caroline Thomas combined to bring home the win (3:55.78). Each member of the relay team would go on to win an individual race as well. Oberg won the 100 butterfly with a time of 57.59. Faulkner recorded another win, giving her four individual wins in her last three meets. She won the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:55.06, just edging out fellow Commodore, (Lauren) Torres. Torres won the 200 IM with a time of 2:14.38, while Thomas finished with two individual wins. Thomas won the 100 backstroke (58.73) and 200 backstroke (2:07.83). Senior Erika Deardorf, who was one of six seniors swimming in their final home meet as a Commodore, won the 1000 freestyle with a time of 10:26.70 and 200 breaststroke in a time of 2:30.97. Another senior, Saray Lynch, also went out with a win, as she won the 100 breaststroke (1:07.56). Alyxandra Vernon was able to just hold off Arkansas-Little Rock’s Natalie Swindle to win the 200 butterfly in a time of 2:10.66. Hannah Martin rounded out the meet with two wins of her own. She won the 500 freestyle in a time of 5:11.43 and the 100 freestyle in a time of 53.67.

The Field

Vanderbilt competes in one of the toughest conferences in the country year in and year out. Currently, five SEC schools rank in the top 10, led by Auburn at No. 3, Tennessee at No. 4, Georgia at No. 6, No. 8 Florida and No. 9 Texas A&M. Arkansas comes in at No. 18, while LSU and Missouri are receiving votes.

Dores on the SEC Championships

Senior Erika Deardorf
“It is so awesome, the SEC Championship is my favorite meet of the year. It’s really cool that it is in Texas this year because I’m from Texas and I’ve swam at the pool in College Station. It’s a really good environment with Florida and Georgia and all the other SEC teams. I’m looking forward to it and I know there will be some fast swimming.”

Senior Chelsea Morey
“It’s a different world. The SEC Championships are really tough. You just have to focus on your team as a whole and give it your best. That’s what we always do.”

Freshman Hannah Martin
“I'm so excited to compete at SECs with the rest of my teammates. Everyone's been training hard all season, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what we can do at such a fun, fast meet. We're hoping to get a lot of personal bests, break some school records and represent Vanderbilt well at the SEC Championships.”

“The competition is definitely going to be intense because the SEC is one of the fastest conferences. We'll just have to be ready to swim fast in the morning so we can make it back to finals.”

2012 SEC Championships

Vanderbilt finished the 2012 SEC Championships with a 10^th place finish and a total of 78 points. Georgia won the 2012 SEC Championship.