Nov. 5, 2004
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue's finest received first-hand experience in competing against Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte during the opening night of the Boilermaker Challenge. Lochte, who swims for third-ranked Florida, cruised to victory in the 200 individual medley and with the 400 medley relay team.
At the 2004 Summer Olympics, Lochte was the runner-up to USA golden boy, Michael Phelps, in the 200 IM and a gold medalist in the 800 free relay.
Facing the Boilermaker power trio of Louis Paul, Giordan Pogioli and Romain Maire in the 200 IM, Lochte won with an NCAA provisional time of 1:48.04. His mark was about three seconds faster than Paul and Pogioli's and five seconds better than Maire.
Paul finished the race as the runner-up in 1:51.02, Pogioli was fifth in 1:51.81 and Maire touched eighth at 1:53.00.
Lochte's 400 medley team also showed dominance, beating Virginia's `A' relay by over three seconds, 3:16.59 to 3:19.78. The Cavaliers team included NCAA All-Americans Michael Raab, Luke Anderson and Bo Greenwood.
Purdue placed fourth in the 400 medley relay at 3:21.62, a team comprised of David Hughes, Pogioli, Paul and Maire.
Thanks to Lochte and company, Florida leads after the first of three sessions with 300 points. No. 10 Virginia is in second with 286 points, and are followed by No. 20 Purdue (252) and No. 19 Texas A&M (216).
In addition to receiving a boost from last year's NCAA qualifiers, Purdue also picked up a big points from its 200 free relay team of Iggy Goh, Eric Prugh, John Mullen and Trey Smith, which placed fourth at 1:23.83.
Prugh, along with Mark Wolfred, Steuart Martens and David Hedge also all scored in the 500 free.
Divers Steve LoBue and Clay Davis put together a nice two-three finish off the 3-meter springboard, but neither could top the Aggie's Eric Sehn, who walked away with 517.80 points. David Hanisch and Josh Karshen also score off the high board, placing sixth and eighth.
Saturday's run of the Boilermaker Challenge is split into two sessions. The morning session begins at 11 a.m., and the night session starts at 6 p.m. Heats of the 1,650 free are expected to start around 3 p.m.