Nov. 18, 2007
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The No. 14 Boilermaker men's swimming and diving team came back from a 42-point deficit to win the Purdue Invitational on the third and final day of competition. The Purdue women also rallied Sunday afternoon at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center, moving up from fourth to second place.
The Boilermaker men finished with 730 points, besting Missouri (661), Louisville (539), Missouri State (451), Florida (405), Southern Illinois (299) and Stanford (100).
Missouri won the women's title with 821.5 points. Purdue came in second with 636 points, placing far ahead of Florida (564.5), Louisville (562), Southern Illinois (292), Missouri State (157) and Stanford (127).
"This is confident team we have at Purdue," said men's head coach Dan Ross. "I knew we'd come back and win this thing because they're focused and get the job done. The swimmers and divers know they're part of a special team."
The Purdue men dug themselves a hole Friday, suffering a DQ on the 200 freestyle relay, but they slowly narrowed Missouri's lead Saturday before blowing them out of the water. The Boilermakers qualified twelve swimmers for second swims on Sunday to Missouri's three.
The Boilermakers' wins were collected by Ilia Ayzenshtok in the 200 back with a time of 1:46.71, and Kyle Mitrione, who scored a personal best 336.40 points off the platform tower.
Purdue also had three swimmers place among the top eight in the 100 free and 200 fly, and claimed two finalists in the 200 breaststroke and mile.
The men's 400 free relay completed the meet with a runner-up time of 3:00.43.
Purdue's women's coaches defined this invitational as a midterm exam entering this week. So what was the final grade?
"The team earned a B," said women's assistant coach Darlene Renie. "There were a lot of personal bests recorded this weekend, but we still need to work on turns, improving finishes and taking breaths when we need to. The changes we make in practice have to carry over to competitions."
The women's comeback effort started in the day's first event, the mile. Nicole Weatherman's NCAA provisional cut in the 1650 free of 16:52.20 was good for second place, and junior Elyse Dudar placed right behind her in third at 16:56.15.
Lauren Hyman won the 200 fly in 2:03.40 and was joined in the finals by Christine Inman, who placed fourth.
Three Boilermakers: Jennifer Lavers, Leah Pierce and Shannon Grace all reached the finals of the 200 breaststroke; Leah Henninger was eighth in the 100 free, and rookie Allie Smith continued to impress with her bronze-medal finish in the 200 back at 2:01.61.
Both Boilermaker swim programs are off for the rest of 2007 and will resume active competition in early January with road trips to Florida (men) and Arizona State (women). The divers get back to work in two weeks, traveling to Ohio State for a three-day invitational from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2.