MINNEAPOLIS -- Lyam Dias and Marat Amaltdinov had strong showings in the A final of the 100 breaststroke and Danny Conway won the B final of the 400 IM to highlight the opening day of action for Purdue men's swimming at the Arena/Minnesota Grand Prix.
After winning heat 7 of the preliminaries, Dias took third in the A final of the 100 breast with a time of 52.81, just .32 hundredths of a second off his program-record time from last season. He improved on his prelim time by .61 hundredths, but settled for third behind Olympians Felipe Lima (52.58) and Mike Alexandrov (52.64).
Amaltdinov took sixth in the A final of the 100 breast, moving up to sixth place in program history with a time of 54.15. The Russian improved on his time by .29 hundredths from the prelims to the finals.
Guillermo Blanco posted the top preliminary time in the 400 IM in the final heat of the morning session, but was disqualified for an illegal turn on the backstroke to breaststroke transition. Purdue head coach Dan Ross said Blanco was cited for being "past vertical" while pushing off the wall on the turn. Ross appealed the DQ but the ruling was upheld.
Blanco (3:49.02) had posted a faster time than 2012 Olympians Connor Jaeger, Conor Dwyer and Tyler Clary in the prelims. Clary (3:41.40) and Dwyer (3:41.54) later dueled in a great race in the A final of the event while finishing more than five seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
Conway (3:51.66) and Jan Karel Petric (3:52.39) also finished a tight one-two in the B final of the 400 IM in the evening session. Six Boilermakers raced in the finals of the 400 IM, matching the 100 breast for the most of the night.
Stephen Seliskar placed third in the B final of the 100 butterfly with a Purdue season-best time of 48.95. He also teamed up with Josh Ehrman, Josh Brooks and Blanco to help the Boilers finish second in the 400 free relay with a team season-best mark of 3:00.26.
Action continues Friday with prelims at 10 a.m. ET and finals at 7 p.m. ET. Team scores are not being kept at the USA Diving-sponsored meet.
Receive Purdue Men's Swimming & Diving news via email. Sign up HERE.
Purdue's Top Finishers & Notables From Day One
(B) -- NCAA Provisional Qualifying Times
* -- Purdue Season-Best Time
^ -- Personal Season-Best Time
200 Free
Josh Ehrman, 1:39.93* (Prelim Time) -- Finished 7th in C Final
Nate Hopkins, 1:39.94^ (Prelim Time) -- Finished 3rd in C Final
Jared Schimmelpfenning, 1:40.01^ -- Finished 4th in D Final
Evan Barta, 1:44.04^ -- Won Heat 2 of Prelims
Carly Mercer (Alum), 1:48.93 -- Won D Final of Women's Event
100 Breast
Lyam Dias, 52.81* (B) -- Finished 3rd in A Final; Won Heat 7 of Prelims
Marat Amaltdinov, 54.15^ (B) -- Finished 6th in A Final; Won Heat 3 of Prelims; 6th Fastest in Purdue History
Chris Bals, 55.90^ -- Won C Final
Wyatt Hodges (Alum), 56.57 -- Finished 3rd in D Final
James Nguyen, 56.68^ -- Finished 5th in C Final
Matt Quinlan, 56.85^ -- Finished 6th in C Final
Josh Ehrman, 56.98^ (Prelim Time)-- Scratched from D Final
Alex Toetz, 57.72^ (Prelim Time) -- DQ in Finals
100 Fly
Stephen Seliskar, 48.95* -- Finished 3rd in B Final
Alex Toetz, 49.94^ (Prelim Time) -- Finished 8th in C Final; Won Heat 5 of Prelims
Adam Noens, 51.09^ (Prelim Time) -- Finished 7th in D Final
400 IM
Guillermo Blanco, 3:49.02 -- Won Heat of 8 of Prelims & was Top Qualifier for A Final but DQ Due to Illegal Turn
Danny Conway, 3:51.66* -- Won B Final
Jan Karel Petric, 3:52.39^ -- Finished 2nd in B Final
Josh Brooks, 3:57.90^ -- Finished 2nd in C Final
Adam Noens, 3:58.50^ -- Finished 2nd in C Final
Sean Gartland, 4:05.61^ (Prelim Time) -- Finished 6th in D Final
Hudson Bursch, 4:06.81^ (Prelim Time) -- Finished 7th in D Final
400 Free Relay
Ehrman, Blanco, Seliskar & Brooks, 3:00.26* -- Finished 2nd
Stephens, Thomas, Gutierrez & Barta, 3:03.36^ -- Finished 4th