Marshall Press Release
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Marshall swimming and diving remained perfect at home this season with a 144-118 win over the Southeastern Conference’s Vanderbilt on Saturday at the Fredrick A. Fitch Natatorium.
The Thundering Herd earned its third straight victory and first ever win over Vanderbilt by winning eight of the 14 events held in the meet. Marshall has defeated three Power 5 schools this season, including West Virginia at the WV State Games, Miami (Fla.) at the NC State GAC Invite and the Commodores.
The Herd set three pool records in the meet. The first record was set in the 200 medley relay by the team of Sirena Rowe, Catherine Bendziewicz, Chloe Parsemain and Gloriya Mavrova with a time of 1:43.77. The second was set in the 50 free, as Rowe finished at 23.23. The final record was set in the 200 free relay by the team of Lauren Cowher, Mavrova, Bendziewicz and Parsemain with a time of 1:35.16.
Marshall went on to win back-to-back events in the 200 free and 100 backstroke. Bendziewicz placed in first in the 200 free with a time of 1:51.83, while Rowe earned the win in the 100 backstroke with a time of 56.22.
After dropping the 200 fly, the Herd responded by winning three straight events. Rowe picked up back-to-back wins in the 50 free (23.23) and the 100 free (52.53). Caroline Wanner placed first at 2:05.59 in the 200 backstroke.
Marshall’s biggest boost came in the 100 fly, as Parsemain finished in first place with a time of 55.16, almost two seconds ahead of second place.
COACH’S CORNER
Quotes by head coach Bill Tramel
On the team’s performance and win over Vanderbilt…
We are incredible thrilled with the results today. Beating a team from the SEC is something special. I think the impressive thing is that we did this straight up, without scoring our divers. The important thing in the second semester is to be performing at a very high level leading into our championship meet, and that is what we are doing.
On the relays and individual performances…
I thought our front relay set the tone by breaking the pool record. We had some people move around in events and not miss a beat. Catherine Bendziewicz winning the 200 freestyle was a pivotal race. I thought Sirena Rowe and Chloe Parsemain going 1-2 in the 100 backstroke in the very next event was a big boost for us as well. Sirena just continues to be a machine. Her finishing at 23.2 in the 50 free and winning four events was phenomenal. Chloe had a monster 100 butterfly finishing at 55.1 just missing the pool record. That time is very fast, so we are very pleased with that.
On finishing and looking ahead…
We didn’t let up. We kept our foot on the gas and that’s what championship teams do. We certainly feel good about where we are leading into our championship season, coming up in the next 25 days.
