NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Vanderbilt swimming program is set to begin postseason competition with the 2025 SEC Championships set to get underway Tuesday at Georgia’s Gabrielson Natatorium.
Vanderbilt at SEC Championships
Tuesday-Saturday, Feb. 18-22 • Prelims 8:30 a.m. CT • Finals 4/4:30 p.m.
Gabrielsen Natatorium • Athens, Ga. • SEC Network/SEC Network+
STORYLINES
Next Up
• The Commodores head to Athens, Georgia, to compete in the SEC Championships.
• It’s the first of three postseason meets on the schedule for Vandy, with individuals eligible to swim at both the CSCAA National Invitational Championship and the NCAA Championships next month.
• This will be the final SEC Championships appearance for four members of the Dores’ senior class—Megan Ciezczak, Karsyn Cook, Mercedes Traba and Kailia Utley—on the roster for the week.
• Two graduate transfers in their final season of collegiate eligibility, Libby Gilbert and Reagan Mathieson, will be making their debuts at the event.
• Vandy’s roster also features three freshmen—Emily Constable, Amelia Harper and Aubrey Hull—as well as junior transfer Quinlan Hinerfeld who will be competing at the championships for the first time.
Last Time Out
• Utley and Constable each met the NCAA B standard for the first time this season to lead the Commodores against Southern Illinois on Feb. 1 at their final meet of the regular season.
• Traba and Mathieson joined Utley in winning individual races at their final home meet, with Madelyn Porter adding a victory for Vandy as well.
• Utley and Kate Heintz recorded a one-two finish in the 200 fly; Mathieson claimed the 100 free and Traba was first in the 500 free, while Utley would go on to add a second victory in the 100 fly as well.
• Constable ended up second in both the 100 and 200 breast, and Traba added a second-place finish in the 400 IM.
• Mathieson and Gilbert posted a two-three finish in the 200 free, with Hinerfeld touching the wall third in the 100 back and Gilbert adding a third-place result in the 200 back.
Sensational Senior
• Kailia Utley enters the her final SEC Championships looking to advance to finals in at least one event for the fourth straight season.
• In 2023, the Huntington Beach, California, resident became the first Commodore to compete at the NCAA Championships in 30 years after swimming both the 100 and 200 fly at the meet.
• The senior enters postseason action having already made the NCAA B cut in the 200 fly after posting a season-best mark of 1:56.49 in the event at Vandy’s final dual meet against Southern Illinois.
• She qualified for the A Final in both the 100 and 200 fly at the at Toyota U.S. Open Championship in December, and also advanced to the A Final in the latter event the previous month at the Gamecock Invitational.
• Utley owns both overall and freshman school records in the 100 and 200 fly, while this is the fourth season in a row that she has the program’s best times in each event.
• Utley’s 20 career individual victories are most on the current roster, with four of those coming this season after sweeping the 100 and 200 fly against Southern Illinois on Senior Day.
• She is also the program’s most decorated student-athlete out of the pool, having earned CSCAA Scholar All-America recognition on three occasions—picking up first-team honors as a junior after receiving second-team recognition her first two seasons at the collegiate level—while making the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District team each of the last two springs.
Traba Tough
• The Commodores are led in the distance events by Mercedes Traba, who currently owns the top marks on the team in the 500 free and 400 IM while ranking third in the 1,000 free.
• Not only does the senior currently hold school records in the 500 and 1,000 free, she owns both the overall and freshman marks in the 400 IM.
• Last season saw Traba make finals for the first time in her career at the SEC Championships after she moved on in the 400 IM.
• She also qualified for two A Finals at the Gamecock Invitational in the fall, advancing in both the 200 fly and 400 IM.
• The native of Sarasota, Florida, has earned 16 individual victories over the course of her career, with her two during the 2024-25 campaign providing bookends to her last season at the collegiate level — she claimed the 1,000 free in the opener at Tulane on Sept. 27 and then closed the regular season with a win in the 500 free against Southern Illinois.
• Seven of those wins have come in the 500 free, the most she has earned in any event.
• A two-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll, Traba earned CSCAA Scholar All-American accolades for the first time in her career—making the second team—last spring.
Hullacious Debut
• After winning her first-ever individual race at the collegiate level—claiming the 100 back—and helping the Dores to victory with her opening leg in the 200 medley relay at Tulane in the season opener, Aubrey Hull was named SEC Co-Freshman of the Week.
• It marked the first time a Commodore earned a weekly honor from the league since 2016 and just the third occasion a Vandy swimmer has earned the distinction in the program’s history.
• She would go on to become the first Dore to meet the NCAA B standard this season after accomplishing the feat in the 100 back at the Toyota U.S. Open Championship in December.
• Hull—who hails from Charlotte, North Carolina—advanced to the A Final in the event, while also winning the 200 back B Final the previous month at South Carolina’s Gamecock Invitational.
• She not only set overall and freshman records for the program in the 100 back, but also established a new freshman standard in the 200 back with her performance in the fall.
• Hull enters her first postseason with the team’s lowest marks in the 100 and 200 back, and is also among the top five on Vandy’s season performer list in the 50 and 100 free.
• The freshman has a team-leading seven individual victories in 2024-25, including two in the 100 back and a pair in the 200 back.
Coming On Late
• Fellow freshman Emily Constable has come on as the second half of the season has wound down, first earning individual wins in the 50 and 200 breast in a dual meet with Arkansas before meeting the NCAA B standard in the 100 breast in the regular-season finale against Southern Illinois.
• The Westfield, New Jersey, resident concluded the regular season by breaking the school freshman record in the 100 breast with her performance against the Salukis.
• She enters postseason action among the top 10 on the Commodores’ all-time performer list in multiple events, currently standing second and seventh, respectively, in the 100 and 200 breast.
• Constable posted her fastest marks of the season at the time in five different disciplines—the 50 and 100 free, 100 and 200 breast, and 200 IM-—at the Gamecock Invitational in November, which included making the A Final in the 100 breast and finishing runner-up in the 200 breast B Final.
• In addition to winning the 100 breast, she swam a leg on the victorious 200 medley relay team in her collegiate debut at Tulane.
Making Her Mark
• In her only season with the program, graduate transfer Reagan Mathieson has contributed in a variety of ways to the Commodores in 2024-25.
• She wrapped up the fall season by setting the program’s record in the 100 free with her swim at the Gamecock Invitational, and she is also third on Vandy’s all-time performer list in the 200 free and 200 IM entering the SEC Championships.
• No one leads the squad in more events than the Lone Tree, Colorado, resident, as she has the Dores’ best marks in the 50, 100 and 200 free along with the 200 IM in 2024-25.
• Mathieson qualified for finals at the Mountain West Conference Championships each of the last three seasons while at San Jose State, including making the A Final in both the 100 and 200 free as a sophomore on her way to earning all-league honors.
• She gained additional postseason experience swimming multiple individual events at the CSCAA National Invitational Championship each year during that span, highlighted by qualifying for the 100 and 200 free A Final in 2022.
• In addition to making the CSC Academic All-District Team each of the last two seasons, Mathieson received both Mountain West Conference Scholar-Athlete and Academic All-Mountain West Conference recognition following her sophomore campaign.
Super Senior Day
• Libby Gilbert closed out her only regular season with the program by posting a pair of marks that now rank among the top 10 on Vandy’s all-time performer list, as she now stands sixth in the 200 free (1:49.89) and ninth in the 200 back (2:00.22) after finishing third in each race in the match-up with Southern Illinois.
• The graduate transfer moved on to the B Final of the 200 Free in December at the Toyota U.S. Open Championship with that performance coming weeks after she reached a pair of B Finals—in the 200 free and 100 back—at the Gamecock Invitational.
• In three seasons at Ohio State prior to coming to Nashville, Gilbert achieved the NCAA B standard in the 200 back each year while also accomplishing the feat in the 500 free during the 2023-24 campaign.
• In her final season with the Buckeyes, the native of Murrieta, California, posted a top-10 finish in prelims of the 200 back at the B.
• Out of the pool, Gilbert earned second-team CSCAA Scholar All-American honors her senior season with the Buckeyes while also twice being named a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and making the Academic All-Big Ten team on three occasions while in Columbus.
Another Impact Transfer
• The Dores added a third NCAA Division I transfer prior to the start of the season when Quinlan Hinerfeld joined the program after two years at Tulane.
• Originally from Fort Collins, Colorado, Hinerfeld entered the top 10 on the program’s all-time performer list in three events—the 100 and 200 back, along with the 200 IM—with her efforts at the final competition of the fall, the Gamecock Invitational.
• At that competition, the junior advanced to the B Final in both the 100 and 200 back.
• As a freshman for the Green Wave, she was runner-up in the 100 back at the American Athletic Conference Championships, while she advanced to the A Final in the 100 and 200 back—recording top-five results in both races—at the meet the following season.
• Hinerfeld also placed third in the B Final of the 200 back at the CSCAA National Invitational Championship in 2024, as she swam multiple events at the competition each of her two seasons at Tulane.
