Vanderbilt Swimming | Expertise on the Massive Stage

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Times are good in Commodore Nation. From soccer’s historic season to soccer’s SEC Tournament glory and Elite Eight run, and from NCAA doubles finalists in ladies’s tennis to males’s and ladies’s basketball juggernauts, to Vandy United and Anchored for Her, profitable is within the air. And due to Aubrey Hull, even within the water.

The Vanderbilt swimmer has touched the wall first 5 instances this season, giving the sophomore double-digit profession wins in her brief time in Nashville. She owns the workforce’s quickest instances this season within the 100 and 200 backstroke and 100 freestyle, and has been a part of a bevy of the workforce’s quickest relay efforts. Less than midway into her keep, she is this system’s all-time file holder within the 100 backstroke and second within the 200 backstroke — inside a number of hundredths of a second of a file that has stood for practically 15 years.

She sees what’s happening round her. And she needs in.

“Seeing all the other teams doing so well motivates me,” Hull stated. “Especially with the women’s teams—like with basketball winning, and then I’m close with a bunch of the soccer girls—just seeing them doing so well pushes me and my teammates to want to be at that higher SEC level.”

But greater than merely desirous to compete on the highest stage, she’s already finished it. She’s been there and are available again with the teachings. Her Vanderbilt athletic friends have competed on large levels in current months, sure, however none greater than that which greeted Hull when she stepped onto the pool deck at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis in June 2024.

Days after she walked throughout a stage and accepted her diploma at Charlotte’s Ardrey Kell High School, Hull traveled to Indianapolis for the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials. An ocean now not stood between her and the Paris Olympics. Just two lengths of the 50-meter pool. Her household typically teases her that she is oblivious to her environment more often than not. And regardless of watching world file holder Gretchen Walsh heat up or sharing area with backstroke world champion Regan Smith, she tried to go about her race in Indianapolis as if it was some other meet. Except it wasn’t some other meet. Not even shut.

Above: Hull swims in Lane 8 throughout Olympic Trials (courtesy Richard Paige, Wabash College Communications).

“There’s a camera underwater, and right when I pushed off, it started moving,” Hull recalled of the accoutrements of a nationally televised occasion. “It was under me, and it’s so loud and it startled me because I didn’t know it was going to be moving.”

One of the opposite swimmers in her preliminary warmth went to the Olympics. For her half, Hull savored her brush with the elite and packed her baggage for her freshman 12 months at Vanderbilt.

Along with dorm room necessities, she introduced the information that realizing large desires relies on being attentive to numerous small targets alongside the way in which.

Entering her remaining 12 months of highschool, she hadn’t constructed her life round making the Olympic Trials. She knew it had turn into a risk, in fact, even when she by no means would have imagined that for many of her younger life. But because the weeks glided by all through the spring and her instances ticked down, nearer and nearer to the qualifying commonplace, she centered on small targets. It wasn’t a lot about attending to Indianapolis as conquering the small particulars that might reduce the tenths of seconds that added as much as a bigger prize. She couldn’t qualify for the Trials on a random Tuesday morning in Charlotte. But she may effective tune her flip turns. The subsequent day, she may work on getting higher underwater.

What can be the purpose in taking shortcuts anyway? The solely expectations she was attempting to satisfy have been her personal.

Hull may appear destined for large issues within the pool. Her mother and father have been collegiate swimmers. Her dad, Carter Hull, even swam within the SEC, profitable a nationwide championship with Auburn. But whereas soccer Saturdays have been an enormous deal in her home rising up, swimming wasn’t. She received the sense her dad felt burned out on swimming by the point his faculty profession ended. He didn’t push his youngsters (Aubrey’s older brother swims at Division II Lenoir-Rhyne) into the pool. They needed to discover their very own method, uncover their very own ardour. And that, in flip, meant the liberty to set their very own targets.

“Some parents are so intense about swimming, but he’s so chill,” Hull stated. “I love talking to him about it, and he really just supports me. He always reminds me to just take it one day at a time, like today might not be your best day, but just work on it tomorrow.”

Hull and teammates cheer on Vanderbilt soccer throughout the NCAA Tournament (Sam Jordan/Vanderbilt Athletics). 

So, sure, she got here to Vanderbilt with large desires, confidence buoyed by her time within the pool in Indianapolis. But the plan hasn’t modified. It’s nonetheless concerning the small targets, just like the one she set this season to be intentional about being there for her teammates and fostering the welcoming atmosphere that attracted her to this system within the first place. It may appear a stretch to recommend that may make her sooner within the water, however following via on what you got down to do makes you higher at every little thing. The aspiring enterprise scholar gained’t be a greater company chief or entrepreneur as a result of she made the Olympic Trials or set Vanderbilt information. But she’ll be a C-Suite asset for the businesses she leads due to what she realized whereas pursuing her swimming targets.

“You’re so dedicated to something and you have so many goals that you want to achieve, but you have to figure out the small steps to get there,” Hull stated. “For example, it’s stuff like the time management of having to plan your day around practice or lifting — even what you’re going to eat throughout your day. So what I’ve learned from being an athlete has been the dedication and persistence to pursue my goals. It’s about going after it when things are hard and just really putting yourself out there.”

For now, it’s on to the SEC Championships in Knoxville, with the knowledge of the CSCAA National Invitational Championship and the potential for the NCAA Championships past that. She is amongst Vanderbilt’s greatest hopes to proceed a memorable 12 months throughout athletics with SEC success. A 12 months in the past within the convention showcase, she got here inside a second of breaking the college file within the 200 backstroke en path to a strong exhibiting.  But this isn’t the Olympic Trials. She’s not simply blissful to be a part of the sector.

“Last year was my first SEC meet, and I think I put so much pressure on myself with wanting to do well,” Hull stated. “I was almost intimidated because it’s such a huge meet and I’m there with my team. But I’ve been to big meets before. I know that I can do this. This year I’ve definitely been more in a fun, ‘Let’s do this’ headspace, and I feel like that’s healthy growth.”

And as soon as she’s received a purpose in entrance of her, look out.