Jan. 30, 2010
The 18th-ranked Purdue men's swimming and diving team wrapped up the Big Ten Duals on Saturday afternoon in Madison, Wis., by splitting the two meets.
"We struggled a little bit in terms of times," head coach Dan Ross said. "However, we raced hard. We are now looking forward to our dual against IU to close out the regular season."
Chuck Destro, Aaron Koger, Kyle House and Ben Wachtel began the day with a runner-up finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The quartet completed the race in 1 minute, 31.67 seconds to finish 18-hundredths of a second behind the winning relay. Gage Barry, Wachtel, A.J. Boeh and Destro concluded the meet by finishing the 400 freestyle relay in 3:04.81 to score in third.
Junior Matt Stewart led Purdue in the 1,000 freestyle when he touched the wall in 9:23.75 and finished third. He was followed immediately by freshman Vinny Donnelly, who finished in a season-best time of 9:24.65. Stewart also recorded the best Purdue finish in the 400 IM with his third-place, 4:01.56 effort. He was followed immediately by senior Andre Koop's 4:02.16 time. Donnelly added another season-best time when he touched the wall in 4:09.07 and finished eighth.
Wachtel claimed third in the 50 freestyle with his 21.02 time, and Barry just missed a season-best time when he placed ninth in 21.67. Destro finished third in the 100 backstroke with his 51.50 clocking, and Koop finished seventh in 52.43. Classmate Sam Wilcher recorded a second-place finish in the 100 butterfly when he completed the race in 49.51. He was joined in the scoring by sophomore Brendan Joyce's 49.71 clocking that scored in fourth.
Sophomores Albert Miller and Wyatt Hodges finished eight-hundredths of a second apart in the 200 breaststroke. Miller clocked a time of 2:06.61 to place third directly ahead of Hodges' 2:06.69 time. Junior Drew Wolfred led a Purdue cluster in the middle of the 200 freestyle pack with his 1:42.17 clocking that placed him fourth. Boeh and freshman Alec LaMothe were the next two to finish as they touched the wall in 1:42.20 and 1:43.02, respectively.
The Boilermakers defeated Wisconsin 185-145, but 10th-ranked Minnesota handed Purdue its first loss this season by a score of 206-124. Purdue's seven straight wins to open the season is the longest streak since the 2004-05 squad won its first nine dual meets.
Purdue returns to action next Saturday when the team travels to Bloomington to face 25th-ranked Indiana. The meet is scheduled to start at noon ET from the Counsilman-Billinsgley Aquatic Center.