Feb. 25, 2010
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The 18th-ranked Purdue men's swimming and diving team earned one individual crown and added another freshman record while blasting from 10th to fourth in the team race Thursday evening at the Big Ten Championships inside the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion on the campus of Ohio State University.
"As a team, we dug ourselves out of a hole," head coach Dan Ross said. "The meet really starts tomorrow for us. We are only 46 points behind Minnesota (for third). We need to have a great day tomorrow. The divers are obviously going to be very good, and we have good IMers and good 100 butterfliers, so we need to find a way to get some more points. Our relays aren't placing where we would like, but the guys are swimming their tails off. We lost some key guys from last year's relays. We will see what happens tomorrow."
Junior David Colturi led a huge point swing by Purdue in the 1-meter springboard when he captured his first Big Ten title. The four-time All-American from Sylvania, Ohio, scored a season-best and facility-record total of 442.00 points to improve his standing in second on Purdue's all-time performance list in the event and move to second on the conference's all-time performance list. Colturi, who has never finished lower than fifth from any board at the Big Ten Championships, stretched Purdue's streak of diving event conference champions to four.
"It was incredible," Colturi said. "The pieces just came together for me. It's very rare that I hit all six dives. My coach was just telling me that I had been diving great and needed to just stay consistent and relax. I really fed off the crowd and my team. It was really cool diving with Kyle (Mitrione) and David (Boudia) tonight. It couldn't have been better."
Sophomore David Boudia, who swept all three events at last year's Big Ten Championships, finished second when he posted a score of 407.20. Senior Kyle Mitrione improved his standing in fifth on Purdue's all-time performance list in the event and placed fourth, his highest Big Ten Championships finish in a springboard competition, with his score of 361.65.
Junior Danny Cox improved his season-best score by more than 30 points while placing 10th with his total of 332.65. Classmate J.P. Perez was the next finisher as he scored 314.00 points, and freshman Jimmy Page added 13th-place points when he put 301.25 points on the board during his six-dive list.
"The divers obviously highlighted an incredible day," Ross said. "My hat's off to David Colturi. He always plays second fiddle to David Boudia. He just flat out dove great today, and it wasn't like David Boudia dove terribly. I'm so proud of Kyle Mitrione to get his highest finish on springboard as a senior."
Vinny Donnelly began the session by breaking Purdue's freshman record in the 500-yard freestyle for the second time Thursday. The Tampa, Fla., native won the 'C' final in 4 minutes, 23.84 seconds to better the record of 4:25.67 he put up in the preliminary swim Thursday afternoon. Coming into the championships, the freshman record was the 4:27.41 mark recorded by Matthew Martin in 1998. Donnelly's time also moves him to second on Purdue's all-time performance list in the event, behind program record-holder Martin's 4:21.37 time from 2001, and improved his standing on the list of NCAA provisional qualifiers in the event.
"This morning I felt OK and was happy with the record," Donnelly said. "It was a lot sweeter winning the 'C' final and going a good two seconds faster tonight. Touching the wall and seeing the whole Purdue section cheering for you is a great feeling. You don't really have that as a club swimmer. It was a good feeling. I came in really nervous, but it was a good nervous, I guess, since I dropped time."
Sophomore Ben Wachtel placed eighth in the 50 freestyle as he completed the sprint in 20.26. The Carmel, Ind., native earned his spot in the final with a season-best and NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 19.93 in the preliminary race that moved him to third on Purdue's all-time performance list in the event.
"The morning swim for Ben was unbelievable," Ross said. "Last year he went 20.34 with a tech suit on. This year, he goes 19.9, and it was all because he had a great start and relaxed and did it. He did his job this morning but was just a little off tonight."
Chuck Destro swam to a 14th-place finish in his first individual conference championships final. The freshman from Pittsburgh clocked a time of 20.49 in the final of the 50 freestyle after earning a season-best and NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 20.23 that was just one-hundredths of a second shy of Purdue's freshman record in the event during the afternoon session.
Senior Andre Koop finished 16th in the 200 IM when he completed the final in 1:48.85. The Newton, Kan., native earned an NCAA provisional-qualifying time and improved his standing in fifth on Purdue's all-time performance list with his 1:48.27 showing in the afternoon session.
"Chuck did his job this morning and then caught a little wake tonight," Ross said. "Andre had never scored in the 200 IM before, so I'm looking at the glass as half full."
Freshman Andrew Starr finished 22nd in the 500 freestyle. After reaching the final session in his first conference championships event with a season-best swim of 4:27.13 that put him fifth on Purdue's all-time performance list in the event, the Charlottesville, Va., native completed his evening race in 4:28.82.
The Boilermakers wrapped the session when the 400 medley relay team of Destro, Aaron Koger, Sam Wilcher and Wachtel finished ninth in the race. The quartet completed the event in an NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 3:15.39.
Ohio State is tied with defending champion Michigan for the team lead with 274.5 points after seven events. Minnesota sits third with 180 points, while the Boilermakers are fourth with 134. Indiana's 123-point total rounds out the top five.
Action continues Friday with a preliminary session set for noon ET to be followed by finals at 7 p.m. The first session features competition in the 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and 3-meter diving, with finals in each event plus the 200 freestyle relay in the evening session. Live results and live video from the championships can be found at purduesports.com.