Feb. 2, 2008
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Boilermaker swimming and diving teams combined to win two meets during their weekend-long Big Ten dual series at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center.
The Purdue women (5-9) defeated Illinois, 283-82, but could not keep up with No. 9 Minnesota, 120-64, or No. 20 Wisconsin, 233-136.
The 12th-ranked Purdue men's team (7-3) beat Wisconsin, 268-85, but fell to No. 8 Minnesota, 203-150.
The Boilermakers received victories from Andrew Langenfeld in the 50 free (20.21), Jin-Soo Kim in the 200 breast (2:00.63) and John Schmitt in the 200 free (1:38.16). All three of these marks, in addition to Matt Stewart's fourth-place time of 9:26.08 in 1000 free, were all season bests for the Old Gold and Black.
Men's head coach Dan Ross was almost expecting Kim to post a victory on Senior Day.
"I had a feeling he'd have a good chance to win the 200 breast and he did it," Ross said. "Jin-Soo is a great big-meet racer and even though he's not considered one of the top two or three breaststroke swimmers in the Big Ten, he is one of its most feisty. It was great to see a senior win at his final home meet."
Overall, the Boilermakers won nine of 20 events but it wasn't enough to keep pace with Minnesota, which captured all four of this weekend's relays.
"I'm proud of our guys, they did a real nice job this weekend," Ross said. "We wanted to give Minnesota a good meet and I think we accomplished that goal. I don't think we won a race against them all of last year, but we came away with nine wins in the last two days."
The Boilermakers also collected a handful of runner-up showings as Langenfeld took second in the 100 fly (48.63) and Ilia Ayzenshtok did the same in the 100 back (49.80).
Aaron Koger hit the wall second to Kim in the 200 breast with a time of 2:02.08.
Second-place times were also attained by the 200 medley relay of Joe Colley, Koger, Langenfeld and Eddie Kenney (1:31.01) and the 400 free relay of John Schmitt, Kenney, John Mullen and Craig Thompson (3:00.87).
Women's head coach Cathy Wright-Eger was impressed with her team's mental toughness in spite of the final scores.
"This was a very tough competition, but they kept fighting and scraping for every point, which sets us up well for Big Ten's" Wright-Eger said. "We're rising up to meet the shave times we produced back in November, so I expect the best is still yet to come from this group of athletes. They're very exciting to watch."
Saturday's top performances were turned in by freshman Allie Smith, who placed second in the 100 back (56.18) and led the fourth-place 200 medley relay with a leadoff split of 27.01.
Senior Nicole Weatherman also had a strong afternoon with third-place showings in the 200 (1:52.87) and 1000 free (10:04.11).
The Boilermaker men return to action next Saturday against the Hoosiers in Bloomington. The Purdue women are off until the Big Ten Championships, which start Feb. 20 in Columbus, Ohio.