Feb. 26, 2010
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The 18th-ranked Purdue men's swimming and diving team captured another title and remained fourth as day three of the Big Ten Championships concluded Friday evening inside the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion on the campus of Ohio State University.
"We're getting better every day," head coach Dan Ross said. "We dug a hole for ourselves the first day. We knew we were going to struggle with relays, but we've had a lot more individuals moving up. The divers are of course doing a great job. With one more day to go, we were hoping to narrow the gap with Minnesota for third. It doesn't look like that's quite going to happen, but after losing all of the guys we lost last year I'm pretty happy with our position. We still need to come back tomorrow and have a really good day to see if we can finish it off."
Sophomore David Boudia successfully defended his 3-meter conference crown by putting a facility-record score of 485.35 points on the board during his six-dive list. His score betters the previous facility record of 447.50 set by Duke's Nick McCrory in December. Boudia, from Noblesville, Ind., captured his fourth career Big Ten title after sweeping all three events at last year's championships. Purdue now owns facility records from all three boards as Boudia held the platform record entering the meet and junior David Colturi took down the 1-meter record while winning his first conference crown Thursday night.
"I'm excited to win another 3-meter title," Boudia said. "It's exciting to share with Purdue, and it was exciting to be out there with three other Purdue guys. We're getting geared up for tomorrow to hopefully get more guys in the top eight."
Boudia wasn't the only Boilermaker diver to score as all six placed in the top 12 and Purdue made up half of the eight-competitor 'A' final field. Junior J.P. Perez finished third as he scored a season-best total of 412.45 that moves him to third on Purdue's all-time performance list in the event. Colturi finished seventh after posting a score of 394.90. Senior Kyle Mitrione scored in eighth with his season-best 378.15 total, marking the second consecutive day he earned his highest conference finish in an event.
Freshman Jimmy Page scored in 10th place and moved to eighth on Purdue's all-time performance list in the 3-meter with his score of 368.30. Junior Danny Cox, who ranks seventh on that list, finished 12th in the final after he put 349.60 points on the scoreboard.
Senior Aaron Koger finished seventh in the 100-yard breaststroke when he touched the wall in 54.31. The Richmond, Ind., native, who ranks third on Purdue's all-time performance list in the event, improved his standing on the list of NCAA provisional qualifiers with his 54.12 swim during the afternoon session. Koger has scored in the 100 breaststroke at the Big Ten Championships all four years of his collegiate career and looks to add a fourth scoring finish in the 200 breaststroke Saturday.
Senior Sam Wilcher won the consolation final of the 100 butterfly and scored ninth overall with his 47.82 clocking. The Arlington Heights, Ill., native swam a season-best and NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 47.65 during the afternoon session to earn his spot in the final. He earned his second consecutive ninth-place finish in the event at the Big Ten Championships and scored for the fourth straight year. Sophomore Jimmy Brooks, who clocked a season-best time of 48.77 to qualify for the final, touched the wall in 48.84 and finished 16th in the event.
Senior Andre Koop earned his highest individual conference championships finish when he placed 12th in the 400 IM. The Newton, Kan., native swam a season-best time of 3:50.82 that improves his standing on the list of NCAA provisional qualifiers in the event and just misses his collegiate-best clocking of 3:50.69 that ranks him fourth on Purdue's all-time performance list. Koop, who finished 16th in the 200 IM on Thursday evening, added another first by scoring in both events for the first time in his career.
Sophomore Albert Miller added another 12th-place finish to Purdue's haul with his showing in the 100 breaststroke. The Chesterton, Ind., native, who ranks fifth on Purdue's all-time performance list in the event, scored in an individual event for the first time in his career by touching the wall in a season-best time of 54.91 that moves him up the list of NCAA provisional qualifiers.
Junior Chris Pfaff added more points by finishing 14th in the 100 backstroke. The Elkhart, Ind., native swam a season-best time of 49.03 that is just one-hundredth of a second shy of the NCAA provisional-qualifying standard in the event. The season-best time was his third of the day after he lowered his previous mark by more than two seconds with a 49.14 swim and clocked a season-best time of 49.55 in the 100 butterfly during the afternoon session.
The Boilermakers began the session with an eighth-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay. The quartet of Ben Wachtel, Chuck Destro, Kyle House and Gage Barry came home in an NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 1:20.58.
Sophomore Wyatt Hodges won the 'C' final of the 100 breaststroke and finished 17th overall. The Columbia, Mo., native popped a season-best time of 55.61 that was almost one full second faster than his previous best time and missed the NCAA provisional-qualifying standard by just one-tenth of a second.
Sophomores Brendan Joyce and House also contested the 100 butterfly after qualifying for the 'C' final. Joyce finished 22nd overall after touching the wall in 49.54, while House earned a 23rd-place finish with his time of 49.66. In the afternoon session, both swam season-best times with Joyce completing the race in 48.80 and House, who also scored a season-best time in the 100 backstroke during the day's first session, finishing in 49.13.
Ohio State leads the team race with 592.5 points. Defending champion Michigan is second with 512.5 and is followed by Minnesota's total of 321 points. Purdue has 262 points, and Indiana rounds out the top five with 193.
Action concludes Saturday with a preliminary session set for noon ET to be followed by finals at 7 p.m. The first session features competition in the 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly and platform diving. The evening session will crown champions in each preliminary event, as well as the 1,650 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay. Live results and live video from the championships can be found at purduesports.com.