Feb. 23, 2006
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Boilermakers' goal to finish fourth at the Big Ten Championships may become a reality if Thursday's results carry over to Friday and Saturday.
Purdue outscored itself from last year's championship in five of six events. The Boilermakers went from eighth to sixth in the 200 freestyle relay, and from eighth to fifth in the 400 medley relay. The Old Gold and Black also earned five additional points in the 50 free, three more in the 200 individual medley and 12 extra points off the 1-meter springboard.
As a result, Purdue finds itself in fifth place with 120 points after one day of championship action. The Boilermakers were in eighth at this time last year.
Host Indiana leads with 187.5 points and Minnesota is second with 177. Northwestern with 161 points and Michigan with 147 points sit ahead of Purdue in third and fourth. Ohio State trails the Boilermakers in sixth with 99.5 points.
"We had a good night and achieved our goals," said head coach Dan Ross. "We got two in the top eight of the 200 IM, snuck a guy into the 50 free and our divers did a hell of a job. The 200 free relay was two seconds better than last year, and our 400 free relay set a varsity record.
"I feel good about where we're at in the standings. The guys are loose and having fun on deck, but they're focused once they reach the blocks."
Of the many highlights, none was brighter than the performance of the 400 medley relay, which lowered the varsity record to 3:13.54. The previous record of 3:14.29 was set in 2002 by Louis Paul, Tamas Bessenyei, Tad Sayce and Jeremy Wright.
Sophomore Joe Colley led off with a personal best 100 backstroke split of 49.86, then veteran All-American Giordan Pogioli followed with a 53.23 split in the breaststroke. Rookie Chris Etherington posted a 100 fly split of 46.60 and freestyler Trey Smith completed his portion in 43.85.
Etherington and Smith also swam the first and second legs of the 200 free relay. Etherington recorded a 50-yard split of 20.52 while Smith registered a 19.93. Sophomore John Mullen and LSU transfer Eddie Kenney wrapped up the relay with times of 20.46 and 19.81.
In individual competition, Etherington went finished 12th in the 50 freestyle with a mark of 20.53. The Kokomo native recorded a personal best of 20.49 during prelims.
Pogioli and sophomore Romain Maire combined to score 25 points in the 200 individual medley with their sixth and seventh-place finishes. Pogioli nearly shaved a full second off his prelim time in recording a personal best of 1:47.82. Maire touched the wall in 1:48.83.
Junior Steven LoBue scored over 70 points on his fifth and sixth dives, but it wasn't enough to beat Penn State's Mike Alderman for the 1-meter springboard conference title. LoBue finished with a varsity record 351.95 points; Alderman scored 354.45.
LoBue started strong, earning over 50 points from the judges on dives one and two, but scored just 42 points on dive four while Alderman tallied 69.75 points. "Steve was a bit hit and miss, but he stepped up at the end and his last dive was just magical," said diving coach Adam Soldati. "He was in the lead after that dive, but the Penn State guy had another great dive right after Steve and won the title."
Senior Josh Karshen, 13th in this event last year, remained consistent and was rewarded with a fourth-place and personal best score of 341.20 points. The Alsip, Ill., native posted scores over 52 points on dives one through five, before exploding for 62.40 points on his final attempt.
During diving prelims, freshman Zach Schultz came through with a 13th-place total of 297.20, which was a personal best.
"I'm proud of all my divers, they did a great job," said Soldati. "Today was good for Purdue. We're here to show the rest of the Big Ten that Boilermaker Diving is here to stay."
Friday's event schedule begins at noon with the prelims of the 400 individual medley. Live results links can be found either on the men's swimming and diving page of purduesports.com or through iuhoosiers.com.