Nov. 12, 2005
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - No. 23 Penn State and No. 17 Virginia came back with a vengeance during the second and final day of competition at the Virginia Quadrangular, leaving the No. 14 Boilermakers with a winless weekend.
"I'm proud of the way we battled, but we just ran out of gas," said head coach Dan Ross. "I don't have any excuses. This was our best meet of the season, we had some great individual performances; however, it was our opponents' best meet as well."
No. 1 Auburn swept the quadrangular, beating Purdue, 210-132; Virginia, 184-152, and Penn State, 217-125. Host Virginia went 2-1, topping the Boilermakers, 189-164, and Nittany Lions, 187-166.
The final score between Big Ten rivals was 188-165 in favor of the Blue and White. The three losses drop Purdue's overall dual-meet record to 3-3 and 2-1 in the Big Ten.
The Tigers won five of eight swimming events to maintain their comfortable lead over the opposition. Meanwhile, Virginia's comeback over Purdue was sparked by a one-two showing in the 1,000 freestyle and a three-place sweep of the 400 individual medley. The Cavs' Vanja Rogulj also beat Giordan Pogioli in the 200 breast, 1:58.30 to 1:58.47.
Penn State won only won race Saturday, taking first in the 400 free relay with a time of 3:02.35. Purdue was second in this race at 3:05.06. The Nittany Lions also were helped by second and fourth-place finishes in the 200 back, and by earning the third and fourth-place points in the 100 free.
Purdue returns home to the Boilermaker Aquatic Center Friday, Nov. 18 for the start of the three-day, six-session Boilermaker Invitational. Teams from Missouri, Southern Illinois, Florida and Northwestern are among those scheduled to compete.