Bailey Ratzburg and Amelia Harper achieved personal bests in the 200 IM, moving up the Vanderbilt swimming program’s all-time performer list during the final day of the SEC Championships at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center in Knoxville.
Their performances were part of a strong showing for Vanderbilt on Saturday. Four other Commodores—Melissa Cowen, Kate Heintz, Emily Constable, and Elayne Chen—also posted career-low times in the 100 free preliminaries. Melissa Cowen led the group in that event.
Head coach Jeremy Organ reflected on the team’s performance: “It was a successful week, we’re really, really happy about the results and excited about the team moving forward. It has been a lot of fun this year,” he said. “This week was a big learning experience for the group that is coming back, 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.”
Vanderbilt finished with 146 points over five days of competition. The team recorded six individual and four relay times that now rank among the top 10 in school history. Commodore swimmers set career-best marks 18 times and had 15 season-best performances.
Ratzburg moved to seventh on Vanderbilt’s all-time list in the 200 IM with her time of 2:02.83, while Harper entered ninth with a finish of 2:03.16. In addition to Cowen (51.52), Heintz (51.64), Constable (52.47), and Chen (52.81) setting new personal bests in the 100 free, it was also Heintz’s first time competing in that event at the collegiate level.
Ryen Bosuro ended her collegiate career with a season-best time of 51.70 in the 100 free final race.
Grace Ciaramitaro posted her fastest time this season in the 200 backstroke at 1:59.80.
The relay team of Hull, Cowen, Heintz, and Ratzburg finished with a season-best mark of 3:24.67 in the 400 free relay.
Select individuals from Vanderbilt will compete next weekend at an NCAA Last Chance Meet at a site yet to be determined.
