Nov. 20, 2009
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The 16th-ranked Purdue men's swimming and diving team scored 206 points Friday at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center and is in third place after day one of the Purdue Invitational.
"We had our best relays of the year," head coach Dan Ross said. "I thought they did a pretty good job, as did our 500 freestyle swimmers. Today was our weakest day. I thought we had some pretty good performances for the state of our preparation, and the divers did a nice job. We have to get better. Guys were trying to go to class today and handle all of that, so since we separate ourselves from school tomorrow, I would think we will have a really good day and I expect us to swim better."
Six Boilermakers scored off the 1-meter springboard. Sophomore David Boudia, who won NCAA titles off the 3-meter and platform last season, won the 1-meter after scoring 397.80 in his first competition this season. Junior David Colturi, a four-time All-American, finished fifth by scoring 330.30 points and was followed by senior All-American Kyle Mitrione's season-best score of 329.30. Junior J.P. Perez finished seventh after scoring 306.55, and freshman Jimmy Page placed eighth with his 297.60 score. Junior Danny Cox completed the scoring with his ninth-place score of 272.40.
Junior Drew Wolfred turned in two season-best times in the 500-yard freestyle. The Indianapolis native finished third in the final with his 4:28.88 time after earning the fastest qualifying time of 4:30.93 during the preliminary round. Classmate Matt Stewart also swam two season-best times in the race. The Rochester, Minn., native finished fifth in the final in 4:29.43 and touched the wall in 4:31.26 during the morning session.
Freshman Alec LaMothe finished 11th in the final after recording a season-best time of 4:33.70 to follow his then-season-best time of 4:34.24 in the preliminary swim. Classmates Andrew Starr and Vinny Donnelly touched the wall in 4:34.68 and 4:42.25 to finish 12th and 16th, respectively. Starr recorded a time of 4:34.68 in the morning swim, and Donnelly stopped the clock in 4:38.61.
Three more Boilermakers swam in the `C' final of the 500 freestyle. Senior A.J. Boeh won the race in 4:37.40 after clocking a 4:39.84 time in his first attempt at that race this season Friday morning, while junior Mark Boman finished 20th in 4:37.82 and senior Travis Smith was next with his 4:38.08 time.
Sophomore Ben Wachtel finished sixth in the 50 freestyle with his 20.94 time after he qualified for the final with a season-best time of 20.93. Freshman Chuck Destro finished seventh in 21.23 after clocking a 21.06 time to qualify. Fellow freshman Corey Bandura touched the wall in 21.49 in the morning session and finished 16th in the final with his 21.58 time.
Purdue placed five in the `C' final of the 50 freestyle. Freshman Noah Pashley led the group with his 18th-place, 21.59 time, while senior Gage Barry finished 20th in 21.68 and sophomore Brendan Joyce, who stopped the clock in 21.77, was next to touch the wall. Sophomore Jimmy Brooks earned a season-best 21.60 time in the preliminary swim and was 23rd in the final with his 22.04 time. Freshman Benjamin Ziolkowski stopped the clock in a season-best 21.70 to qualify and then recorded a 22.49 time in the final.
Senior Andre Koop finished 12th in the 200 IM final with his season-best clocking of 1:55.24 after qualifying with a then-season-best 1:55.37 time. Sophomore Albert Miller finished 16th in 1:57.61 after touching the wall in 1:55.40 in the morning session. Senior Nathan Taylor finished 18th with his season-best time of 1:55.40, while junior Scott Dean, who swam a season-best 1:55.44 in the morning session, was 20th in 1:55.79.
Purdue's 200 freestyle relay team of Destro, Wachtel, Bandura and Pashley finished fourth with a 1:22.95 time that ranks first on the team this season. The 400 medley relay quartet consisting of Chris Pfaff, Aaron Koger, Sam Wilcher and Wachtel also recorded a team-best time of 3:21.46 while finishing fourth.
In the morning session, sophomore Tyler Gertz just missed qualifying for the 500 freestyle final as he finished 26th with his 4:45.06 time. Wilcher touched the wall in 4:46.32 and was followed immediately by freshman Ray Mahon in 4:46.36 and sophomore Logan Wetzel in 4:47.33. Barry stopped the clock in 4:48.07, while freshman Sam Niesen finished in 4:55.22 and freshman Sebastian Aube clocked a season-best time of 4:58.36.
Also in the preliminary swim, sophomore Wyatt Hodges and Gertz earned season-best times of 1:59.47 and 1:59.78, respectively, in the 200 IM while junior Ryan Dafforn touched the wall in 2:00.13 in his first attempt at that race this season. Freshman Dan Farrell earned a 22.81 time in the 50 freestyle.
Louisville leads the team scoring with 280.5 points. Purdue is sandwiched between Ohio State's 270 points and Missouri State's total of 68.5. The Purdue Invitational continues Saturday.
Action begins at 10 a.m. ET from inside the Boilermaker Aquatic Center, and finals begin at 6 p.m. Admission is free, and live results can be found at purduesports.com.