Jan. 20, 2007
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Both Boilermaker swimming and diving teams looked like they were headed for a split at the annual Big Ten Triangular, but the Minnesota women beat Purdue for second place on the last relay (400 Free) by .32 seconds.
The Golden Gopher 'B' relay also beat the Boilers for fifth-place to win by nine points, 182-171. Wisconsin had no problem with either program, beating Minnesota, 220-131, and Purdue, 221-132.
"This was a good meet for us right before Big Ten; we raced a lot of fast opponents and we're able to work on meet strategy," said women's head coach Cathy Wright-Eger. "I felt our turns and finishes were strong, but we have more work to do on our starts and hand speed."
Wright-Eger identified three groups competing at the highest levels: the breaststroke, the butterfly and diving.
Senior diver Amanda Miller swept the springboards for a second-straight weekend on Friday night, then came back Saturday to win an exhibition shootout, in which the diver with the lowest score was elimianted after every round.
Carlene Takaki finished her sweep of the butterfly events, winning the 100 fly today with an NCAA provisional cut of 55.21. Badgers Kati Imhoff-Smith and Jenny Gelden were second and third with marks of 56.00 and 56.43.
Wisconsin's All-American Yi Ting Siow dominated the 200 breast with her NCAA automatic qualifying cut of 2:12.80. Purdue collected the second and third-place points as Leah Pierce touched in 2:17.77 and Jennifer Lavers in 2:19.85. Wright-Eger said Pierce is coming on strong at the right time of the season.
Minnesota cleaned house on the men's side, defeating Purdue, 206-147, and Wisconsin, 243-110. The Boilermakers beat the Badgers for a third-consecutive year, 208.5-144.5.
Men's coach Dan Ross was not pleased with the start of the meet as Wisconsin beat Purdue in the day's first two events: the 200 free relay and the 400 individual medley. Following the IM, however, the Boilermakers began to awaken from their slumber.
John Schmitt put together a strong race in the 100 free to place second in 45.97; Romain Maire won his third individual event of the weekend with a time of 1:44.14 in the 200 back; freshman Sam Wilcher came back to win the 100 fly over the last 50 yards in 49.66, and rookie Aaron Koger claimed the 200 breaststroke crown in 2:01.96.
Wilcher's mark was only .02 seconds faster than that of runner-up Scott Rice of Wisconsin.
"I was extremely pleased with our comeback, but overall it was a rather unemotional meet," said Ross. "By the end of the day we had taken out a few of our guys with some minor injuries, and I want us to be at 100-percent health next week vs. Indiana. I didn't want to take any chances."
The Boilermaker men wrap their regular season next Saturday at home against IU. The meet's start time was pushed back to noon in order to accomodate the start of the Purdue men's basketball game.
The Purdue women are off next week as they prepare for the start of the Big Ten Championships, which begin Feb. 8 in Minneapolis.