Nov. 6, 2009
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's swimming and diving team defeated Notre Dame 195-105 Friday evening inside the Boilermaker Aquatic Center.
"I never know what to expect when we have Notre Dame," head coach Dan Ross said. "It's really fun to race really well and have a good meet, but I really didn't know what to expect. I felt Notre Dame swam a lot better than they did last year. It's really hard on a team to get off a bus and swim. Our distance guys have stepped up from last year, and Ben Wachtel and some other guys are trying to step up where John Schmitt and Andrew Langenfeld were last year. The divers didn't skip a beat without David Boudia. I would say we did OK. I would expect us to be better tomorrow."
Junior Matt Stewart started the individual races with a bang. The Rochester, Minn., native won the 1,650-yard freestyle in an NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 15 minutes, 33.84 seconds, which betters the standard of 15:35.70. Junior Drew Wolfred and freshman Vinny Donnelly finished right behind Stewart in 15:40.01 and 15:52.05, respectively, to give the Boilermakers a sweep of the top-three places.
Senior Aaron Koger swam to the second provisional-qualifying time of the night just three events later as he won the 100 breaststroke in 55.20. Sophomore Albert Miller finished second in 57.37, while junior Scott Dean touched the wall in 59.19 for fourth. Sophomore Wyatt Hodges finished fifth in 59.34 to give Purdue four of the top-five finishes in the race. Koger also won the 200 breaststroke in 2:01.99 and was followed in second by Dean, who finished in 2:06.70.
The Boilermakers swept the diving events for the third time in as many meets this season. Junior David Colturi continued his unbeaten start off the 1-meter with his score of 343.50, and classmate J.P. Perez claimed his second 3-meter title in as many attempts by scoring a season-high 371.40 points. Perez also improved his standing in 10th on Purdue's all-time performance list in the 1-meter with his second-place score of 323.63. Colturi took second in the 3-meter with 351.45 points, and freshman Jimmy Page finished fourth off both boards with 305.40 points from the 1-meter and 305.63 from the 3-meter.
Senior Sam Wilcher won the 200 butterfly in 1:50.29 and was joined in the scoring by junior Ryan Dafforn, who placed fourth with his 1:54.41 time. Wilcher also won the 100 butterfly in 49.31 while leading a Boilermaker sweep of the top-four places. Sophomore Brendan Joyce was next in 49.99, and sophomores Jimmy Brooks and Kyle House touched the wall in 50.80 and 50.86, respectively.
Wolfred won the 500 freestyle in 4:33.07 and was followed by Donnelly in second in 4:38.23 and freshman Alec LaMothe in third in 4:39.99. Freshman Ray Mahon was fifth with his 4:43.10 clocking. Stewart followed his provisional-qualifying swim with a victory in the 400 IM in 4:02.19. Koop and Wilcher took third and fourth, respectively, with times of 4:04.55 and 4:09.26.
Sophomore Ben Wachtel continued his unbeaten start to the season in individual freestyle events. The Carmel, Ind., native bettered the 50 freestyle field in a season-best 20.94 clocking. He was followed by freshman Chuck Destro in second with a season-best 21.03 time and sophomore Brendan Joyce in fourth in a season-best 21.25. Freshman Corey Bandura was fifth in 21.46 to give Purdue four of the top-five places in the shortest freestyle race. Wachtel also swam to a runner-up finish in the 100 freestyle with his 46.41 clocking. Senior Gage Barry placed fourth in a season-best time of 46.63.
Purdue grabbed second through fourth in the 100 backstroke. Junior Chris Pfaff led the charge with his 51.62 finish and was followed by senior Andre Koop in 52.16 and sophomore Kyle House in a season-best 52.24. Koop led the way in the 200 backstroke with his third-place, 1:52.07 finish, and freshman Andrew Starr finished fourth in a season-best time of 1:53.29. The Boilermakers had two scorers in the 200 freestyle as Wachtel took second in 1:41.16 and senior A.J. Boeh finished third in 1:41.17.
Purdue grabbed 15 points in the 200 medley relay as Pfaff, Koger, Brooks and Bandura won the event in 1:31.71 and Destro, Miller, House and freshman Noah Pashley touched second in 1:32.00. The Boilermakers also had two scoring quartets in the 200 freestyle relay. Destro, Bandura, Joyce and Wachtel were second in 1:23.10, and Pashley, Brooks, Barry and House finished third in 1:24.80.
Purdue improves to 13-1 all-time against Notre Dame. The Boilermakers return to the pool Saturday when they host Northwestern at 1 p.m. ET.