Nov. 3, 2006
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue's swimming and diving teams both lost to Notre Dame Friday in South Bend. The men lost in nail-biting fashion on the last relay, 156-144, and the women dropped their decision, 185-115.
"I hate losing, but it was a great meet," said men's head coach Dan Ross. "We can learn more from this loss than we could from a win, and it was nice to see some guys really step up."
Freshman Sam Wilcher led Purdue with a pair of wins in the 100 and 200 fly. Wilcher finished the 100 in 50.06 and the 200 in 1:50.61.
The Boilermakers also were strong in the breaststroke. Aaron Koger won the 100 in 57.02, and in the 200, Jin-Soo Kim beat his freshman teammate to the finish line, 2:03.59 to 2:04.98.
Other pool victories were attained by Eddie Kenney in the 50 free (21.03) and Romain Maire in the 200 back (1:50.94). Ross was impressed by Romain's performance since his junior had battled illness and injury much of the last two weeks.
The reliable diving corps ran into a bit of a wall. Steve LoBue won the 1-meter with a score of 321.60, but the second and third-place points were claimed by Notre Dame's Sam Stoner and Michael Bulfin.
Off the 3-meter, LoBue was second with 308.70 points pinned in between Bulfin and Stoner who were first and third.
For the Purdue women's team, Friday's meet didn't reach the same level of fun as the men's meet.
"Notre Dame swam like it was the championship season and we just couldn't keep up," said Wright-Eger. "It wasn't a great environment on deck; it was cold and some of our swimmers were affected by it while others didn't let it bother them."
We have to accept the fact that conditions are not always going to be perfect, so we have to continue to develop our mental toughness."
Despite the difficulties on deck, Wright-Eger was able to find a silver lining in defeat.
She was especially happy with her divers and flyers. Amanda Miller won off both springboards with scores of 310.65 and 318.65, and Carlene Takaki swept the butterfly events with marks of 54.89 and 2:01.48.
Purdue swept the top three spots in the 100 fly with Takaki placing first, Lauren Hyman second in 2:04.08 and freshman Christine Inman third in 2:06.49. Inman also was second to Takaki in the 200 fly with a time of 57.46.
The Boilermakers claimed the top three spots of the 3-meter. Placing behind Miller were Lauren Hallyburton with 268.05 points and Chelsea Johnson with 252.91 points.
Katharine Telfer and Leah Henninger received praise from Wright-Eger as well. Telfer recorded three season bests including a 58.60 in the 100 back and three of four of Henninger's times were season bests. Henninger's top finish was a fifth-place showing in the 50 free of 24.92.
The Boilermakers have no time to relax. Both squads travel to Evanston, Ill. Saturday to take on the Northwestern Wildcats.