March 19, 2010
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue women's swimming and diving team scored in four events Friday evening inside the Boilermaker Aquatic Center on the second day of the NCAA Championships.
"Our swimmers and divers did a great job and really competed hard today," head coach John Klinge said. "We have some strong events to look forward to tomorrow. It was an exciting day to see seven Boilermakers become All-Americans."
Sophomore Casey Matthews earned All-America honors for the first time after two honorable mention nods. The Getzville, N.Y., native, finished fifth in the 3-meter final with her score of 350.20 points. Matthews scored from the highest springboard for the first time in her career after placing 12th in the 1-meter at last year's championships and ninth in the event Thursday night. In the preliminary session Friday afternoon, Matthews posted a score of 380.95 that improved her standing in second on the program's all-time performance list.
"This was definitely exciting," Matthews said. "This was my first 'A' final, and I just went in thinking about executing all my dives like I do in practice. The plan was to put it on autopilot and just have fun."
The Boilermakers started the evening session with a 16th-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay. Allie Smith, Jessica Davis, Lisa Butler and Ariel Martin combined to complete the race in 1 minute, 39.96 seconds. The quartet lowered the program record to 1:39.50 during Friday's first session.
Smith went on to become Purdue's first All-American in the 100 backstroke. The junior from Green Bay, Wis., finished 15th in the event when she touched the wall in a time of 53.25. In the qualifying session, Smith lowered the school record to 53.20, marking the third time she has broken that record this season.
"Today was good," Smith said. "I don't even have a word for it. You can't even describe something like that. It's the coolest feeling in the world to say you're an All-American. I always wanted to get to this meet. I never thought I would ever score points. It's really, really cool. I guess I'm still speechless."
Purdue capped the evening with a 15th-place finish in the 800 freestyle relay, marking the first time in program history points were scored in that event. Martin, Butler, Lauren Roth and Leah Henninger combined to stop the clock in 7:11.73 and earn honorable mention All-America status. The same quartet set Purdue's record of 7:07.95 while finishing second in the event at the Big Ten Championships last month.
The Boilermakers have scored in five events through the first two days of the NCAA Championships, which is the most in program history. This year's effort ties the 2005 squad that also put points on the board from five different events.
Purdue sits 16th in the team race with 42 points, which is already the fourth-highest total in program history. Stanford leads the pack with 266.5 points and is followed by Georgia with 262.5. Arizona's total of 259.5 points is third, while defending champion Cal is fourth with 256 and Florida is fifth with 236.
The NCAA Championships conclude Saturday with two sessions. The first session begins at 11 a.m. ET before the final seven event champions are crowned starting at 7 p.m. Live results and live video can be found at purduesports.com.