Jan. 13, 2006
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - No. 15 Purdue fell to 4-4 on the season after dropping a 132-111 decision to No. 4 Michigan Friday night at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center.
Purdue started and finished the meet with wins in the 400 medley and 400 free relays, but struggled to pick up wins elsewhere. Giordan Pogioli was Purdue's lone victor in the pool, finishing the 200 breaststroke with an NCAA provisional cut of 1:56.98.
Pogioli's mark was only .44 seconds off the national automatic qualifying time of 1:56.55.
The Boilermakers also were dominant at the diving end. Junior Steven LoBue led a three-place sweep off the 1-meter with 334.30 points, and was second to senior Josh Karshen off the 3-meter. Karshen won the 3-meter crown with 352.95 points.
Purdue diving outscored its opponents, 30-8; however, the Wolverine swimmers more than made up for that deficit.
After losing the 400 medley relay, Michigan finished first through third in the 1000 freestyle, then won the remaining four freestyle events, plus the 200 back, 200 fly and 200 IM.
Despite the losses, Purdue head coach Dan Ross was proud of the way his team competed.
"I was somewhat concerned that we wouldn't race as well as we have been, because it's Michigan," said Ross. "But after we won that first relay, we started to believe that we could maybe win this meet."
Pogioli was the difference maker in the 400 medley relay, giving his team a four-second lead at the halfway point. Freshman Chris Etherington and Trey Smith held onto the lead with fly and free splits of 46.89 and 44.24.
Joe Colley posted a solid leadoff split in the back of 24.14, keeping pace with Michigan's Chris DeJong, whose split was clocked at 24.72.
Etherington and Smith also were part of the winning 400 free relay, which completed its course in 3:03.80, beating the Michigan squad by almost two seconds. Romain Maire led off this relay and freshman John Schmitt swam anchor.
Ross was happy with Schmitt's performances, especially in the 100 free.
"I want my team to be recording the same times now as they did at our fall invitational in November," said Ross. "So it was nice to see John and Trey swim under 46.00 in the 100 free and Giordan was simply awesome in the 200 breast."
Purdue is off next week from competition, but will return to the pool in two weeks to battle the Golden Gophers and Wisconsin Badgers at Minnesota.