Jan. 14, 2005
YPSILANTI, Mich. - The 17th-ranked Purdue Boilermakers improved their record to 8-0 Friday night with a 148.5-94.5 win over the defending MAC champion Eastern Michigan Eagles. Freshman Romain Maire led the team with three victories.
As an individual, Maire won the 400 individual medley in 3:55.23, a time which would have scored at last year's Big Ten Championships. The frenchman also placed first in the 100 backstroke in 50.75 seconds.
"This was a real good, competitive meet," said head coach Dan Ross. "EMU has a few studs on its team and they came right after us. We're traveling to East Lansing tonight and can expect a dogfight against Michigan State tomorrow."
Purdue scored several wins in the pool, including victories by the 200 medley and freestyle relays. Louis Paul, Giordan Pogioli, Iggy Goh and Andre Pereira comprised the winning medley team, which finished in 1:32.84.
Goh and Pereira, along with Maire and Trey Smith won the freestyle relay in 1:25.29.
Paul and Pogioli collected individual titles in the 200 free and 100 breaststroke. Paul finished his race in 1:39.35, with teammate Eric Prugh placing second at 1:43.00.
Pogioli's winning time in the 100 breast was clocked at 55.96; sophomore Daniel Walter was the runner-up at 58.43.
The huge point differential was due to the performance of the Boilermaker divers, who swept the top five spots off the 1-meter springboard and three of the top five spots off the 3-meter springboard. Josh Karshen won the 3-meter crown with a career high and team-season best of 323.55 points.
Steven LoBue, who placed second behind Karshen, won the 1-meter title with 315.45 points. Following LoBue, in order, were Karshen, David Hanisch, J.R. Hillis and Clayton Davis.
Although they did not win, Ross also was proud of his distance swimmers, all of whom recorded season bests in the 1,650 freestyle. Steuart Martens was the Boilermakers' top finisher, coming in second with a time of 15:51.48. Junior Mark Wolfred was third at 15:54.80.
Purdue competes Saturday at 2 p.m. against Michigan State in a co-ed dual meet in East Lansing. The Boilermakers crushed the Spartans last year at home, with the men winning, 190-105, and the women winning, 184.5-112.5.