Vanderbilt Sprint Depth Fuels Win over Iowa

Photo Courtesy: Competitor

Vanderbilt Sprint Depth Fuels Win over Iowa

Four straight wins in the middle of the meet, including in both sprint events, led Vanderbilt to a nonconference win over Iowa on Saturday.

Megan Ciezczak and Olivia Solimine went 1-2 in the 50 freestyle, Ciezczak winning in 23.83 to edge her teammate out by .06 seconds. Abby Francis followed by winning the 100 free in 51.54, with Solimine fourth and Ciezczak fifth.

Around those two swims, Kailia Utley won the 200 butterfly in 2:00.67 and Grace Ciaramitaro won the 200 backstroke in 2:00.54 with teammate Emily Carpenter second.

Utley returned to win the 100 fly in 54.84, a great race in which she rallied to outtouch Iowa’s Scarlet Martin by .03 seconds. Sophia Kosturos won the women’s 100 back in 55.75 for Vandy.

“It was a really great day overall from the group, there were key points in the meet where some of the ladies stepped up and got victories in races that we weren’t sure we were going to win,” Vanderbilt coach Jeremy Organ said. “That allowed us to get rolling and come out on top at the end of the day. What a super exciting meet, hats off to Iowa. The two programs pair up really well, it was a fun meet with great energy and it was great to get a home win.”

Kosturos, Faith Knelson, Utley and Francis won the 200 medley relay in 1:42.21, besting the Hawkeyes by four tenths. Knelson finished second in the 100 breast and 200 individual medley, and Ellie Taliaferro was second in the 200 free and 500 free for the Commodores.

Iowa came up with its share of wins but didn’t have the depth to back it up. Jenna Kerr bested Taliaferro twice in the mid-distance, her 200 free win in 1:50.40 coming by .18 seconds. She went 4:57.49 in the 500. Alix O’Brien won the 1,000 free in 10:22.04 and was third in the 500. Olivia Swalley swept breaststroke in 1:02.16 and 2:17.41.

Kerr, Sabina Kupcova (second in the 100 free, third in the 200 free), Josie Hood (third in the 50 and 100 free) and Martin (second in both fly events) won the 400 free relay in 3:23.72 as a consolation victory.

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