Nov. 6, 2004
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - No. 20 Purdue placed third at its Boilermaker Challenge with 836 points, beating 19th-ranked Texas A&M. Unfortunately, the Old Gold and Black did not possess enough firepower to take down third-ranked Florida or No. 10 Virginia.
The Gators won the team title with 1,014 points, and Virginia placed second with 919 points. The Aggies scored 678 points.
"It was nice to beat Texas A&M, but I know they would have been a lot tougher to beat in dual format," said head coach Dan Ross. "I didn't think we would beat them by as much as we did, but we're happy with the result, and our diving certainly played a large part in our finish."
The two-day meet featured some of the top swimmers in the nation, including a number of Olympians and All-Americans, which made it easy for the home crowd to overlook the contributions of its divers.
Led by sophomore Steve LoBue, who won the 1-meter and platform titles Saturday, the Boilermaker divers combined to score 131 points through two sessions.
In 1-meter competition, LoBue won with a personal-best score of 312.15, while Clay Davis (288.31) and J.R. Hillis (271.50) claimed the third and fourth-place points. LoBue completed the sweep with a dominating performance off the platform, where he scored another personal best of 498.90.
LoBue's platform score is the second best in team history, behind teammate Josh Karshen's 2004 tally of 511.60. Davis was the runner-up off the platform, scoring 403.45 points, and Karshen was third at 387.55. Senior David Hanisch also performed well on the tower, finishing fifth at 330.10.
Purdue swimmers Louis Paul, Romaine Maire and Giordan Pogioli were the primary offensive source, as all three scored in multiple events. Paul was the team's lone winner in the pool, beating South African gold medalist Darien Townsend (Florida) in the 200 freestyle by .14 seconds.
Paul's winning time of 1:38.96 was an NCAA provisional mark. Townsend touched the wall in 1:39.10.
A native of Sydney, Australia, Paul also claimed runner-up titles in the 100 back and with the 400 free relay team. Paul placed behind American gold medalist Ryan Lochte in the 100 back, 47.26 to 50.39. In the 400 free relay, Paul's team of Maire, Eric Prugh and Trey Smith finished its course in 3:03.93; Paul's leadoff split was timed at 45.77.
Pogioli had a day of ups and downs. In the 100 breaststroke, the NCAA All-American placed second to Virginia's Vanja Rogulj, 54.91 to 56.28; however, he suffered a DQ in his bread-and-butter event, the 200 breast. Pogioli was disqualified during the final 25-yards of the race, trying to catch Rogulj, who was a half-second second ahead of the Boilermaker.
In addition to a third-place showing in the 100 back (50.69), Maire also scored for high points for Purdue in the 100 butterfly (6th-50.63) and the 200 back (4th-1:49.06).
The swimmers and divers will not return to the Boilermaker Aquatic Center until Jan. 22, when they play host to the Indiana Hoosiers. To close this first full month of competition, the Boilermakers travel to Northwestern for a dual on Nov. 12 and then compete at the Minnesota Invitational from Nov. 19-21.
"Northwestern will be tough to beat," said Ross."They're another nationally ranked club, which has swam against some very spirited competition over the last three weeks. Guys like Matt Grevers, Mike Alexandrov and Brian Davis will certainly challenge our swimmers."