Dec. 6, 2009
After placing eight in the scoring Friday, Purdue earned 13 scoring places between the men's and women's diving events Saturday and Sunday to wrap up the Ohio State Invitational in Columbus, Ohio.
"This was a meet that we were training through," head diving coach Adam Soldati said. "We did heavy weights the day before we left. We wanted our men to be in this facility, which is hosting their Big Ten and NCAA championship meets. This was not a meet where our number-one goal was to perform at our highest. We really wanted to come here and work on some mechanics and changes. Everyone did a good job continuing through the week. Today, we had a really good showing on the tower, and everyone did what we wanted them to do to set us up for success throughout the championship season."
Sophomore David Boudia followed his 1-meter victory on Friday with a second-place finish in the 3-meter on Saturday. Boudia scored 431.30 points to finish behind only Duke's Nick McCroy, who broke the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion record in the event with his score of 447.50.
Junior J.P. Perez put 349.15 points on the board and finished fifth from the highest springboard. He was followed immediately by freshman Jimmy Page's 344.65 score in sixth and senior Kyle Mitrione's 338.80 score in seventh. Junior David Colturi scored 294.65 points for a 14th-place finish.
Colturi led Purdue's men in the platform competition on Sunday. He finished third after scoring 390.35 in an event that featured McCrory breaking the facility record with 474.30 points. Mitrione finished right behind Colturi by putting up a season-best score of 335.70. Perez was fifth with his 330.15 score, and fellow junior Danny Cox placed seventh after scoring 317.70 in his first platform competition this season.
Sophomore Casey Matthews led the Purdue women in the 1-meter on Saturday with her 284.90-point showing that placed seventh. Junior Erin Mertz put 249.00 points on the board during her six-dive list and finished 10th. Mertz bounced back to finish fourth in the platform Sunday with her score of 236.90. Matthews earned a sixth-place finish after scoring 226.40 in her first platform competition of the season.
The divers join their swimming counterparts after the holiday break for a three-day competition against Michigan State. The Boilermakers and Spartans are scheduled to face each other Jan. 7-9 inside the Boilermaker Aquatic Center.