Results: Saturday / Complete // Dive-by-Dive Scoring / Purdue Notables / Meet Central
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Marat Amaltdinov won the conference title in the 200 breaststroke with a new program and pool-record time, highlighting the final day of action for Purdue men's swimming and diving at the Big Ten Championships on Saturday.
Amaltdinov gave the Boilermakers the Big Ten champion in the 200 breast for the second year in a row. He won the A final with a record time of 1:52.67, out touching Indiana's Cody Taylor by three hundredths of a second. Amaltdinov also eclipsed his previous pool record while being the top qualifier in the event with a time of 1:53.68 in the morning prelims. His finals time was an NCAA automatic-qualifying time, clinching him a spot at the national championship meet next month for the second year in a row. However, Amaltdinov is expected to forgo the opportunity and instead compete at the Russian Olympic Trials.
Purdue had not won a Big Ten swimming title in consecutive years since 2004 and 2005 when Louis Paul repeated as the 200 individual medley champ and Giordan Pogioli also won the 200 breast in 2004. Amaltdinov is the Boilermakers' fifth Big Ten breaststroke champion under head coach Dan Ross, joining Vilmos Kovacs (four-time champ from 1996-98), Tamas Bessenyei (2001), Pogioli (2004) and Lyam Dias (2015).
Watch Marat Amaltdinov win the Big Ten title in the 200 Breaststroke moments ago with a new #Purdue record time. https://t.co/TRRobhHHSo
-- Purdue Swim-Dive (@PurdueMSwimDive) February 28, 2016
Filip Bujoczek (100 free), Joe Cifelli (platform diving), Danny Conway (200 fly) also qualified for A finals Saturday. Max Showalter won the B final of platform diving and Grant Lewis was victorious in the C final of the 200 fly. Cifelli was one of only four divers in the meet to qualify for the A final of all three diving events. Showalter also scored in all three events.
Amaltdinov was named First Team All-Big Ten and Joe Cifelli was a Second Team All-Big Ten honoree for their performances this week. Conway was selected as Purdue's Big Ten sportsmanship honoree.
The Boilermakers finished in sixth place in the team scoring with 725 points. Purdue scored in every event of the seven-session meet. Michigan won its sixth straight conference title.
Along with scoring in the 100 free finals while being among the top 12 overall finishers in the event, Austin Flager and Bujoczek teamed with Eddy Zawatski and Josh Ehrman to post the fifth-fastest time (2:56.01) in program history in the 400 free relay. The quartet finished in sixth place after winning heat one of the event.
Adam Noens (200 breast), Jake Thomas (200 back), Alex Toetz (200 back), Joe Young (200 back), Bujoczek (100 free), Flager (100 free) and Lewis (200 fly) all joined or moved up on the Purdue all-time top-10 list in an event after posting career-best times en route to scoring in Saturday finals. Chris Bals (200 breast), Josh Brooks (200 fly), Jackson Higgins (1650 free) and Jared Schimmelpfenning (1650 free) rounded out the Boilermakers' 15 scoring finishes Saturday.
Along with the 200 breast, new pool records at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center were established in the 100 and 1650 free, 200 fly and 400 free relay Saturday. Like Amaltdinov, Michigan's Dylan Bosch eclipsed the pool record in the 200 fly in both the prelims and finals. He won the Big Ten title in the event for the fourth year in a row and was named the Swimmer of the Championships. Ohio State's Colin Zeng received five 10s on his sixth and final dive of his victorious performance in the A final of platform diving. He was named the Diver of the Championships after also winning on 1-meter Thursday.
Purdue is scheduled to host LCM time trials Sunday at which men's and women's swimmers from both the Big Ten and Midwest will look to achieve qualifying times for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials this summer. Action begins at 10 a.m. Swimmers that have qualified for the NCAA Championships will be officially announced the week of March 7 to 11. The divers will look to qualify for NCAAs at the Zone C Championships, which Purdue is hosting March 10 to 12.
Final Team Scoring
1. #5 Michigan, 1475.5
2. #9 Indiana, 1306
3. #15 Ohio State, 1294.5
4. #25 Minnesota, 919
5. #16 Wisconsin, 832.5
6. Purdue, 725
7. Iowa, 551
8. Northwestern, 462
9. Penn State, 357.5
10. Michigan State, 230