Nov. 7, 2009
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's swimming and diving team beat Northwestern 183-109 Saturday afternoon inside the Boilermaker Aquatic Center.
"The guys took care of business this weekend," head coach Dan Ross said. "Northwestern has some good young talent, but so do we. It was fun to see our young guys step up, as well as some veterans, too. We had a good home stand."
Junior David Colturi swept the diving events. The All-American from Sylvania, Ohio, won the 1-meter with his 327.53 score and put together 356.70 points to better the 3-meter field. Classmate J.P. Perez finished second in the 1-meter with 321.98 points and third in the 3-meter with 345.60. Senior Kyle Mitrione was the runner up in the 3-meter after scoring 348.30 points and took third in the 1-meter with his 303.30 score. Junior Danny Cox added a fourth-place finish in the 1-meter after earning a season-best total of 302.93 points.
Purdue took four of the top five finishes in the 1,000 freestyle. Junior Matt Stewart led the way with his victory in 9:18.16. Freshmen then took third through fifth as Vinny Donnelly finished in 9:29.67, Alec LaMothe stopped the clock in 9:37.57 and Ray Mahon earned a 9:46.15 time.
Sophomore Ben Wachtel remained undefeated in 2009 in individual freestyle events as he touched the wall in a season-best time of 45.59 to take top honors in the 100 freestyle. Senior Gage Barry was next in 46.95, while junior Drew Wolfred placed fourth in 47.17 and freshman Corey Bandura was fifth in 47.18.
Freshman Chuck Destro claimed the 50 freestyle in 21.13 and was followed by sophomore Brendan Joyce in second with his 21.38 time and classmate Noah Pashley, who touched the wall in 21.75 for fourth. Wolfred won the 200 freestyle in a season-best time of 1:40.73. He was followed by senior A.J. Boeh, who finished second in 1:42.07, and Bandura, who touched the wall in 1:43.65 to finish fifth. Freshman Andrew Starr grabbed a win in his first collegiate 500 freestyle race by finishing in 4:32.67. LaMothe was third in 4:37.51, and Donnelly finished next in 4:41.11.
Senior Andre Koop won the 100 backstroke in 52.21 and the 200 backstroke in 1:52.72. He was followed immediately by sophomore Kyle House in 52.25 in the 100 backstroke, and Starr added points with his fourth-place, 53.13 finish. Junior Chris Pfaff placed third in the 200 backstroke with his 1:54.32 time, and classmate Mark Boman was fifth in 1:57.12.
Senior Aaron Koger extended his unbeaten start in the 100 breaststroke with a 55.71 time one day after earning an NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 55.20 in the event. Sophomore Albert Miller placed second in 57.93, junior Scott Dean was fourth in 59.40 and senior Nathan Taylor was next in a season-best time of 59.54. Dean led three Purdue scorers in the 200 breaststroke with his runner-up, 2:07.64 time and was fifth in the 200 IM in 1:58.57. Sophomore Wyatt Hodges was fourth in the 200 breaststroke in 2:11.33, and junior Ryan Dafforn was next with his 2:12.43 finish.
Senior Sam Wilcher earned a runner-up finish in the 200 butterfly with his season-best 1:50.10 time. Dafforn scored in fourth place after touching the wall in 1:54.57. Joyce grabbed second in the 100 butterfly with his 50.62 clocking and was followed immediately by classmate Jimmy Brooks in a season-best 50.63.
Purdue grabbed 13 points in the 400 medley relay by taking first and third in the event. Destro, Koger, Wilcher and Wachtel combined to win in a team-best time of 3:22.22, and Pfaff, Miller, Joyce and Barry finished third in 3:25.94. The quartet of Destro, Barry, Boeh and Wachtel put a 3:06.44 showing on the board in the 400 freestyle relay.
Purdue improved to 30-3 all-time against Northwestern and extended its winning streak in the series to 14. The Boilermakers return to action Friday when they begin a two-day dual at Eastern Michigan.