Feb. 28, 2008
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue junior Andrew Langenfeld was in the hospital just a few short weeks ago, recovering from an emergency appendectomy. But Thursday night, the Centralia, Ill., native was on deck at Michigan's Canham Natatorium celebrating history with his Boilermaker teammates.
Langenfeld completed his quick recovery by recording a new varsity record of 19.90 seconds in the `C' final of the 50-yard freestyle at the Big Ten Championships. His mark is the first of the program's 81-year history to be under 20 seconds and eclipsed Frank Smardo's former record of 20.08 set in 1997.
Langenfeld's personal best of 19.87 was recorded as a member of the West Virginia Mountaineers.
"Andrew's swim was just outstanding," head coach Dan Ross said. "It was just unbelievable and nice to see him get this accomplishment after getting his appendix taken out. He's been through a lot."
Prior to tonight, Smardo's 11-year-old mark was the Boilers' longest standing individual varsity record. Now, all of Purdue's current individual varsity records have been reset since 2000, and only 1998's 200 freestyle relay team still claims a school mark that was set last decade.
Langenfeld and company did threaten the 200 free relay record, posting a season best and NCAA provisional cut of 1:19.64. The varsity mark set by Smardo, David Weis, Kirk Larsen and Mike Ullom is a few ticks better at 1:19.50.
Langenfeld led off the sixth-place relay with his 50-yard freestyle split of 20.11 and was followed off the block by John Mullen, Eddie Kenney and John Schmitt.
Mullen and Kenney also scored with Langenfeld in the 50 free. Kenney placed 14th with a personal record of 20.l1, lowering his prelim time by .13 seconds. Mullen was unable to duplicate his 20.18 prelim time and placed 16th in 20.25.
Based on these performances, Langenfeld, Mullen and Kenney rewrote the 50 free record book. Langenfeld stands atop the top five with his 19.90 and Smardo is second with a 20.08. Kenney now ranks third at 20.11 with Mullen a close fourth at 20.18. Ullom's time of 20.32 from 1997 is fifth.
Speaking of records, rookie David Colturi again reset his freshman mark on 1-meter springboard, finishing with a third-place total of 362.20 points.
Colturi improved his score by close to 45 points from prelims but could not overtake winner Lando Marzullo of Indiana (388.55) or runner-up Wes Wieser of Ohio State (362.20).
Purdue's Kyle Mitrione moved up the standings with his seventh-place and personal best score of 323.00 points. The Haddonfield, N.J., native was 10th in prelims with 294.85 points.
Redshirt junior Zach Schultz placed eighth with 318.85 points, which was an eight-point improvement from earlier this afternoon.
Senior Romain Maire was Purdue's second-highest finisher of the day, coming in sixth in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:46.80. The native Frenchman set a personal best of 1:46.27 in prelims.
Purdue completed its first night with an eighth-place showing in the 400 medley relay. Ilia Ayzenshtok led off with a season best 100-yard backstroke split of 49.28 and was joined by Aaron Koger, Sam Wilcher and John Schmitt.
The Boilermakers are in sixth place with 145 points with two days left of competition. Northwestern is just ahead of them in fifth place with 149 points and Minnesota is fourth with 181 points.
Ross seems to be OK with his team's first day results.
"We're in sixth and I guess it's not bad," he said. "I thought the relays were a little flat and they didn't swim with the right emotion, but we'll get that rectified tomorrow. I think we'll be fine the rest of the weekend and can start going after Northwestern."
As expected, host Michigan is crushing the competition. The Wolverines lead the Hoosiers by 94 points for first place, 344 to 250 points.