Feb. 28, 2014
Friday Results: Finals | Prelims | Dive-by-Dive Scoring
| Live Diving Scores | Championship Meet Central
Watch (PPV): Wednesday Night Thru Saturday Morning | Saturday Night Finals
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Three new program records and two NCAA A Cut qualifying times highlighted the second full day of action at the Big Ten Championships for Purdue men's swimming and diving.
Lyam Dias broke Albert Miller's 2012 program record (53.34) in the prelims of the 100 breaststroke (52.90) and then lowered the mark again (52.49) while placing fourth in the A final of the event. His finals time was an NCAA A Cut and should assure him a berth at the NCAA Championships for the second year in a row.
Purdue's 200 freestyle relay team of Danny Tucker, Austin Flager, Adam Johnston and Matt Friede also posted an A Cut with a time of 1:18.15. The time led to a fourth-place finish and was good for fourth in program history. With Dias advancing to the NCAA Championships, the Boilers' should qualify multiple relay teams for the national championship meet as well. Friede and Tucker will have helped the 200 free relay team qualify for the third year in a row.
Jamie Bissett finished as the runner-up in the championship final of a springboard diving event for the second night in a row. He took second from the 3-meter Friday after Indiana's Darian Schmidt rallied in the final two rounds thanks to a high degree of difficulty coupled with well-executed dives. Bissett's personal-best score of 424.25 moved the junior up to third place in program history.
"The guys really brought it this morning and tonight," Purdue head coach Dan Ross said. "Dias with the A Cut and Bissett finishing second on 3-meter were impressive showings. And I was encouraged with the buzz on deck from our guys, being unselfish and wanting to do whatever helps the team. I'm not sure what's going to happen tomorrow but it sure will be fun to do it with this group of swimmers and divers."
Josh Brooks (400 IM, 3:47.02) and Filip Bujoczek (200 free, 1:36.36) both established a new Purdue freshman record Friday. Brooks won the B final of the event after improving on his prelim time by nearly 3 ½ seconds. The Boilermakers have already recorded five new team benchmarks at Big Tens this week, upping the season total to seven.
Purdue moved up in the team scoring for the second night in a row. After being in 10th place going into Thursday, the Boilers have now risen to fifth with 219.5 points. Minnesota (208) and Wisconsin (207) are close behind, setting up what should be an interesting final day of competition between those three schools. Fourth-place Penn State (265) has a 45.5-point lead on Purdue.
The 400 IM (28 points) and 3-meter diving (24) were the Boilers' top-scoring individual events Friday. Led by Guillermo Blanco (12 points) and Brooks (9), four Purdue swimmers scored in the 400 IM. Divers Bissett (17), Layne Rogers (6) and Nate Cox (1) gave Purdue three scoring finishers in a springboard event for the second night in a row.
Brooks not only eclipsed Blanco's 400 IM freshman record from 2012, but also moved up to second place overall in program history. Only Blanco's program record time of 3:44.32 at last month's Classic @ SMU ranks as faster.
Bujoczek now owns freshman records in the 200 and 500 free. He eclipsed Ben Wachtel's 2009 freshman record (1:37.50) in the prelims of the 200 free Friday, moving up to third place in program history overall.
Flager (100 fly) and Danny Conway (400 IM) also scored team points with B finals qualifications while moving into the Purdue all-time Top 10 leaderboards in their events. Jan Karel Petric scored in the B final of the 400 IM and Stephen Seliskar bested his 100 backstroke split from Thursday night's 400 medley relay to move up the 100 back list again.
The Big Ten Championships conclude Saturday with preliminaries at 11 a.m. and finals at 6:30 p.m.
Purdue's Top Finishers & Notables
* -- New Purdue Season-Best Time
^ -- New Personal Season-Best Time
(A) -- NCAA A Cut Qualifying Time
(B) -- NCAA Provisional Qualifying Time
(Z) -- NCAA Zone Qualifying Score
200 Free Relay
Tucker, Flager, Johnston & Friede, 1:18.15* (A) -- Finished 4th (30 Points); 4th Fastest in Program History
3-Meter Diving
Jamie Bissett, 424.25* (Z) - Finished 2nd in Championship Final (17 Points); 3rd Best Score in Program History
Layne Rogers, 366.75 (Z) - Finished 3rd in Consolation Final (6 Points)
Nate Cox, 324.05 (Z) - Finished 8th in Consolation Final (1 Point)
200 Free
Filip Bujoczek, 1:36.36* (B, Prelim Time) - Finished 6th in B Final (3 Points); NEW FRESHMAN RECORD & 3rd Fastest in Program History
100 Breast
Lyam Dias, 52.49* (A) - Finished 4th in A Final (15 Points); NEW PROGRAM RECORD
100 Fly
Austin Flager, 47.78* (B, Prelim Time) - Finished T-2nd in B Final (6.5 Points); 6th Fastest in Program History
Stephen Seliskar, 48.25^ (B, Prelim Time) - Finished 19th in Prelims, Scratched from C Final; 9th Fastest in Program History
400 IM
Guillermo Blanco, 3:48.46 (B, Prelim Time) - Finished 7th in A Final (12 Points)
Josh Brooks, 3:47.02^ (B) - Won B Final (9 Points); NEW FRESHMAN RECORD & 2nd Fastest in Program History
Jan Karel Petric, 3:50.41^ (B, Prelim Time) - Finished 5th in B Final (4 Points)
Danny Conway, 3:50.36^ (B, Prelim Time) - Finished 6th in B Final (3 Points); 6th Fastest in Program History
Team Scores Through Friday
1. #2 Michigan, 599
2. #6 Indiana, 406
3. #7 Ohio State, 354
4. #25 Penn State, 265
5. #22 Purdue, 219.5
6. #11 Minnesota, 208
7. Wisconsin, 207
8. Iowa, 130
9. Northwestern, 107
10. Michigan State, 84.5