Feb. 27, 2010
Results | Complete Championships Results 
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The 18th-ranked Purdue men's swimming and diving team claimed one more conference title while matching the program's highest team finish Saturday as the Big Ten Championships concluded inside the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion on the campus of Ohio State University.
"I'm really proud of the way the guys hung tough all week after starting a little rough," head coach Dan Ross said. "We really closed well tonight. For the seniors, this was a great night. This team has set us up for some big things in the near future. Boiler up!"
The Purdue divers made it a clean sweep by placing all six in scoring positions from the third board in these championships. Sophomore David Boudia once again defended a conference title when he scored 526.60 points in the platform to take the crown. The American record holder in the event threw down the gauntlet early in the competition by earning 10s on four of the seven scorecards for each of his first two dives.
"I'm very happy with my performance tonight," Boudia said. "I was very consistent. I have stuff to work on, but I'm happy. I'm so excited for the other guys that placed as well. It's very rare to see that many divers scoring in so many events, and it just shows how strong our diving program is and how good of a job (head diving coach) Adam (Soldati) does with us. We hope to carry this on through the NCAA Championships."
Boudia was named Diver of the Championships and voted the Big Ten Diver of the Year for the second consecutive season. The Noblesville, Ind., native now has five conference titles in just two seasons and has led the Boilermakers to a sweep of all three boards two years in a row. Head diving coach Adam Soldati was voted Big Ten Diving Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season and fourth time in his career. Senior Nathan Taylor also was announced as Purdue's sportsmanship honoree.
"It's always an honor to be recognized by your peers," Soldati said. "This only happens when you have athletes that work really hard and an athletic department that supports what you do and gives you the resources to be successful. This is an award for the athletic department and the entire swimming and diving team."
Senior Sam Wilcher broke Purdue's program record in the 200-yard butterfly and improved his standing on the list of NCAA provisional qualifiers while recording the highest Big Ten finish of his career. The Arlington Heights, Ill., native finished third in the event when he touched the wall in 1 minute, 44.45 seconds and broke the previous record of 1:44.56 he posted while finishing fifth at last year's Big Ten Championships. Wilcher scored for the event for the fourth consecutive conference championship meet to match the feat he posted in the 100 butterfly Friday evening.
"This was my first medal," Wilcher said. "I just turned around to look at the scoreboard and thought, `Wow!'. We will see where this places me in the NCAA, but to have three records on my wall is kind of cool. I couldn't have done this without my teammates. I remember in the race, I just knew that I had third and that I needed to bring it home."
Purdue claimed six of the top 11 places in the platform, including four of the top five. Following Boudia was junior J.P. Perez in third with a season-best score of 455.25 that moves him to third on Purdue's all-time performance list in the event. Classmate David Colturi, who ranks second on that list, posted a season-high score of 452.15 while taking fourth, and senior Kyle Mitrione finished fifth and moved to fourth on the program's all-time list with his score of 419.45.
Junior Danny Cox won the consolation final in the platform and took ninth overall after putting a season-best score of 403.80 on the board during his six-dive list. Freshman Jimmy Page capped off an impressive first conference championship meet by placing 11th with his 326.10 total.
Vinny Donnelly broke two of Purdue's freshman records while placing seventh in the 1,650 freestyle. The Tampa, Fla., native earned an NCAA provisional-qualifying mark in the longer distance when he hit the wall in 15:14.40. His time breaks the previous freshman record of 15:21.21 set by Rion Epping in 2002 and moves Donnelly to second on the program's all-time performance list in the event. His 1,000 split of 9:11.93 also is a freshman record, bettering the mark of 9:16.49 put up by Epping, and moves Donnelly to third on the all-time performance list in that event. Donnelly, who earlier in the championships broke Purdue's freshman record in the 500 freestyle, now is the fastest freshman in program history in the three longest freestyle events.
"This has been a good week," Donnelly said. "I'm happy with what I did. It was a hard transition going from living at home and going to high school to taking college classes, which I found out are much harder, but I think that has really paid off. The next three years should be even better because I'll know what I need to do. It means a lot to me to score at Big Tens because it lets me help my team."
Senior Aaron Koger improved his standing on the list of NCAA provisional qualifiers and in fourth on Purdue's all-time performance list in the 200 breaststroke. The Richmond, Ind., native posted a time of 1:58.12 that placed eighth and bettered his previous collegiate-best mark of 1:58.33 set last season. Koger scored in the 200 breaststroke for the fourth consecutive conference championship meet one day after doing the same in the 100 breaststroke with his seventh-place finish in that event.
Sophomore Wyatt Hodges also added points in the 200 breaststroke and scored for the first time in his career. The Columbia, Mo., native finished 13th with his time of 1:59.89 after knocking more than four seconds off of his previous season-best time and provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championships when he touched the wall in 1:59.75 during the afternoon session.
Drew Wolfred improved his standing in fifth on Purdue's all-time performance list in the 1,650 freestyle. The junior from Indianapolis earned an NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 15:28.19 to score in 15th place and better his previous best collegiate mark of 15:31.01. Classmate Matt Stewart, who ranks third on Purdue's all-time performance list in the event, finished 17th in a season-best time of 15:28.74 that improves his standing on the list of NCAA provisional qualifiers.
Sophomore Ben Wachtel scored in 11th place with his 44.17 clocking in the 100 freestyle. The Carmel, Ind., native just missed his preliminary time of 44.13 that places him on the list of NCAA provisional qualifiers in the event.
Wachtel also led off Purdue's seventh-place 400 freestyle relay with a time of 43.64 that moves him to third on the program's all-time performance list in the 100 freestyle. Following him was A.J. Boeh, Gage Barry and Chuck Destro, who combined to bring home the relay in 2:57.84. Wachtel entered the meet already ranking third on Purdue's all-time performance list in the 200 freestyle, and he added his name to the 50 freestyle list with his 19.93 time Friday afternoon that places him third in that event as well.
Freshman Alec LaMothe briefly moved into the top five on Purdue's all-time performance list in the 1,650 freestyle. The Indianapolis native dropped 29 seconds off of his previous season-best time and bettered the NCAA provisional-qualifying standard when he finished the longest race on the docket in 15:31.19. His time, which was the 18th-fastest among the field of 38 competitors, placed him fifth all-time at Purdue until Donnelly's race in the next heat. LaMothe also finished 19th in the 200 butterfly with a season-best time of 1:50.79.
Senior Andre Koop swam a season-best time of 1:46.65 in the 200 backstroke. His time placed 19th overall and was just five-hundredths of a second shy of the NCAA provisional-qualifying mark in the event. Sophomore Albert Miller placed 24th in the 200 breaststroke with his time of 2:05.45 in the final after logging a season-best 2:01.34 clocking in the afternoon session.
Ohio State won the team title by scoring 860.5 points during the four-day meet. Defending champion Michigan was second with 715.5, and Minnesota scored 494 points to take third. Purdue totaled 421 points while tying the highest finish in program history for the second consecutive year. Indiana rounded out the top five with 282 points.
Purdue finished fourth for the 13th time in program history and posted consecutive fourth-place finishes for the first time since 1947-51.
The Boilermaker swimmers with NCAA provisional-qualifying times now await the selection process for the national championship meet. All six divers are set to compete in the NCAA Zone C Diving Championships, which determines the NCAA Championships field, from March 12-14 inside the Boilermaker Aquatic Center.
The NCAA Championships are scheduled to take place March 25-27 inside the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.