Feb. 26, 2009
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's swimming and diving team earned two conference crowns and broke nine records Thursday inside the Boilermaker Aquatic Center during the first day of the Big Ten Championships.
"We were really worried about today, because we knew today was our worst day of the meet," head coach Dan Ross said. "On the first day, we didn't have anybody swimming their best event if you say (Andrew) Langenfeld's best event is the 100 fly. Everything just fell into place. The first leg of the 400 medley relay was unbelievable. Tim Watts had never been under 50.4, and he goes 47.6. We're only 12 points out of second place. We wanted to be in that battle, and after the first day, which is not a very good day for us, we are."
The Boilermakers started Thursday night's session with a fury as the 200-yard freestyle relay team broke Purdue's longest-standing school record. Andrew Langenfeld, Ben Wachtel, John Schmitt and Daniel Jung finished second in a time of 1:17.91 that shatters the previous school record of 1:19.50 set in 1998.
Langenfeld continued his record-breaking ways in the 50 freestyle. The senior from Centralia, Ill., won the event in a Doris Z. Holloway Pool, Big Ten and school-record time of 19.34 that betters the NCAA 'A' standard. Langenfeld held the school record entering the day and took the pool record, which was 19.44 clocked by Matt Grevers of Northwestern in 2004, with his 19.38 time during the afternoon session.
"It was a great day," Langenfeld said. "I was really excited. I was a little concerned initially when I got mono (in December), how that would affect my taper and everything, but I kept my eye on the prize, tried to stay as focused as possible and it worked out for the 50. I'm really happy about everything."
Freshman David Boudia also left the Boilermaker Aquatic Center with a title and three records to his name. The Noblesville, Ind., native won the 1-meter competition with his score of 446.65 points, which shattered the previous Big Ten record of 388.55 set in 2008 by Indiana's Landon Marzullo. Boudia's score also broke the Doris Z. Holloway pool record of 402.45 and the Purdue record of 419.85, both already owned by the Purdue freshman.
"It definitely was exciting winning," Boudia said. "I didn't have a very good prelim this morning, and I really just wanted to come back and dive like I know how. It was good to have all the support from the rest of my team and the fans."
In the final event of the day, Purdue broke another school record. Watts, Aaron Koger, Langenfeld and Schmitt finished fourth with a time of 3:11.04 that lowers the quartet's school record of 3:12.61 set two weeks ago against Indiana.
In the afternoon session, Jung broke the Purdue freshman record in the 50 freestyle. His time of 20.22 eclipsed the previous mark of 20.43 set by David Weis in 2001. In the final, Jung finished 23rd after stopping the clock in 20.48.
Team captain Schmitt met the NCAA 'B' standard and improved his standing in second on Purdue's all-time performance list while placing ninth in the 50 freestyle with his time of 19.82. The senior from Evansville, Ind., moved to second on the all-time list in the afternoon session after touching the wall in 19.96.
Sophomore David Colturi finished third in the 1-meter event with his personal-best score of 389.95 that moves him behind only Boudia on Purdue's all-time performance list in the event. Juniors Kyle Mitrione and Danny Cox placed ninth and 10th, respectively, in the 1-meter competition. Junior Andre Koop finished 21st in the 200 IM with his time of 1:49.37. His time of 1:48.89 in the afternoon session moved him to fifth on Purdue's all-time performance list in the event.
In addition to the swimmers that advanced to Thursday night's finals, Purdue earned 11 season-best times during the afternoon session. The 50 freestyle saw six Boilermakers swim a season-best time as Ben Wachtel touched the wall in 20.59, Brendan Joyce finished in 20.68, Jimmy Brooks stopped the clock in 20.84, Gage Barry completed the race in 20.96, Kyle House swam 20.98 and Chris Pfaff finished in 21.09.
In the 500 freestyle, Matt Stewart improved his standing in third on Purdue's all-time performance list in the event with his 4:26.01 time. Luke Zehrung touched the wall in 4:28.05, which improves his fifth-place standing on Purdue's all-time performance list in the event. Andre Koop moved to fifth on Purdue's all-time performance list in the 200 IM with his 1:48.89 time, while Albert Miller and Wyatt Hodges also swam season-best times of 1:51.06 and 1:55.19, respectively.
Michigan leads the Big Ten Championships after day one with 277.5 points. The Wolverines are followed by Minnesota and Indiana with 154 points each. Ohio State rounds out the top five with 136 points. Three Big Ten records and five pool records were broken in Thursday's six finals.
The meet continues Friday at noon with preliminaries in the 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and 3-meter diving. The evening session, which features finals in each preliminary event and the 200 medley and 800 free relays, begins at 7 p.m. Live results can be found throughout the championships at purduesports.com.