Feb. 29, 2008
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Freshman David Colturi highlighted Purdue's second day of competition at the Big Ten Championships in Ann Arbor, Mich., placing second on 3-meter with a new varsity record score of 423.15 points.
Colturi's total was just .40 points from tying winner Landon Marzullo of Indiana.
Boilermaker head coach Dan Ross said the high-scoring competition made for some great on-deck theatrics.
"Our guys and the guys from IU were just going crazy with each dive," he said. "It was just an unbelievable, exciting contest from start to finish and even though David smoked his last dive, the guy from Indiana was just a little better. It was a real cool event and we're looking forward to seeing what we do on platform tomorrow."
Colturi's score surpassed the old varsity record of 390.75 points, which was previously held by teammate Zach Schultz since last season. Ironically, Schultz matched this personal best of 390.75 points Friday, which was good for fifth place, and Kyle Mitrione placed ninth with 369.90 points.
Each of the Boilermaker divers improved by leaps and bounds over their prelims scores as they claimed three of the top ten final scores for a second-consecutive night.
Purdue's diving results helped it climb into fifth place, which is likely where the Boilermakers will finish this weekend.
Purdue completed day two with 336.5 points, but Ohio State is well ahead in fourth place with 458.5 points.
Northwestern is 44 points behind Purdue in sixth with 292 points.
If the Boilermakers remain in fifth, it will be their best showing since 2005. The Old Gold and Black is on pace to break its Big Ten points record of 384 points, which it accumulated at the 1997 championships.
From the competition pool, the Boilermakers scored nine individual swimmers, including two each in the 400 individual medley, 100 butterfly, breaststroke and backstroke.
Of these nine swimmers, five of them were able to lower their marks from prelims.
Senior Romain Maire held onto his fifth-place spot from prelims in posting a NCAA provisional cut of 3:48.85 in the 400 IM. Sophomore Andre Koop was 16th with a personal best of 3:54.67.
Sam Wilcher lowered his mark in the 100 fly from 47.89 to 47.88, but it was good enough to win the 'B' final and clinch his own NCAA provisional mark.
Andrew Langenfeld also scored in the 100 fly, coming in 10th place at 48.58.
Aaron Koger and Jin-Soo Kim were 14th and 17th in the 100 breast. Koger dropped his prelim time of 55.10 to 54.89.
In the 100 back, Ilia Ayzenshtok and Joe Colley finished 11th and 12th with times of 49.57 and 49.79.
John Schmitt arrived in 12th place in the 200 free with a mark of 1:38.57.
Purdue relays did not create much of a ripple in the standings, but they did shuffle around some others in the school record book.
The seventh-place 200 medley relay of Colley, Koger, Langenfeld and John Mullen posted the school's third-best time at 1:28.88.
The 800 free relay, which place ninth, recorded the fourth best time in University history with a 6:35.59. This team was comprised of Craig Thompson, Wilcher, Schmitt and Maire.
The Boilermakers resume competition Saturday at noon with prelims and finals will commence at 7 p.m. Ross feels good about his team's chances to score more points and is particularly excited to see what Wilcher and Maire can accomplish in the 200 fly and back, respectively.
For more news and live results from the Big Ten Championships, please click here.