Thursday Results / Friday Heat Sheets / Dive-by-Dive Scoring / Notables / Meet Central
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Purdue men's swimming & diving eclipsed three of its program records in the span of about 10 minutes in a very competitive Thursday finals session at the Big Ten Championships.
The new records were achieved by Steele Johnson in 1-meter diving (470.05), Kiki Komlenic in the 100 backstroke (47.11) and the 400 medley relay (3:08.59). Komlenic, Marat Amaltdinov, Austin Flager and Filip Bujoczek teamed up for the new record, with Komlenic establishing the 100 back mark on the leadoff leg of the relay.
The Boilermakers had three of the top six finishers in 1-meter diving as Johnson, Joe Cifelli and Brandon Loschiavo finished 4-5-6 in the highest-scoring 1-meter final in Big Ten history. Johnson's score eclipsed David Boudia's benchmark (468.65) from the 2010 NCAA Championships, which were also held in Columbus. Johnson scored at least 72 points on every dive of the final, but fellow 2016 Olympians Michael Hixon (488.65, 1st) and James Connor (487.5, 2nd) of Indiana were even more consistent. Hixon won the event and established a new Big Ten record thanks in part to a score of 90.1 on his sixth and final dive. Johnson had bested Hixon by 10 points in the afternoon preliminary competition.
Cifelli (439.2) and Loschiavo (398.3) also posted career-best scores on 1-meter. Cifelli was a championship finalist in the event for the second year in a row and Loschiavo qualified for the championship final in his debut at the Big Ten Championships. Cifelli improved on his fourth-highest score in program history while Loschiavo moved up to fifth place in the record book. Max Showalter also qualified for the 1-meter consolation final. Purdue racked up 86 points in the event, a total that was the primary reason why the Boilermakers rose from eighth place to sixth in the team scoring.
#Purdue had 3 of top 6 finishers on 1-meter tonight at Big Tens Championships. Watch Steele, Joey & Brando in action https://t.co/0l81dF2TIj
-- Purdue Swim-Dive (@PurdueMSwimDive) February 24, 2017
Purdue established a new record in a relay for the second night in a row. The program's 400 medley relay record of 3:10.91 had stood since the 2009 Big Ten Championships, making it the oldest relay mark in the record book. Bujoczek was part of a new relay record for the second night in a row. Bujoczek and Flager are now both part of three different Purdue relay records.
Komlenic eclipsed Stephen Seliskar's program record in the 100 back (47.42), a benchmark that had been established on the leadoff leg of the 400 medley relay at Big Tens two years ago. As a freshman, Komlenic also accounted for a first-year mark for the Boilermakers. That record changed hands for the second year in a row after Erik Juliusson eclipsed it at the 2016 Big Ten Championships.
Individually, Flager (19.95) and Bujoczek (19.96) both posted sub-20 second times while qualifying for the C final of the 50 free. Bujoczek finished as the runner-up in the C final and moved into ninth place in program history with his career-best time. Flager scored at Big Tens for the fourth year in a row.
Joe Young (1:46.38), Jake Thomas (1:46.60) and Adam Noens (1:46.80) all qualified for the C final of the 200 individual medley thanks to career-best times. Young was able to lower his time again in the final, finishing in third place while moving into seventh place in program history. Thomas now ranks ninth and Noens 10th.
Jackson Higgins posted a Purdue season-best time of 4:26.89 as the team's top finisher in the prelims of the 500 freestyle.
The Big Ten Championships continue Friday with the 100-yard events along with the 200 free, 400 IM, 3-meter diving and 200 free relay. Prelims begin at 11 a.m. ET and finals at 6:30 p.m.