Jan. 19, 2001
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The 19th-ranked Purdue men's swim team moved to 5-0 on the season (2-0 Big Ten) after an impressive 172-128 victory this evening at Michigan State. The Spartans fall to 2-3 (0-2 Big Ten).
"We feel pretty good after this meet," Purdue head swim coach Dan Ross said. "This wasn't a difficult win for us, but we're glad to get another win on our record. Tomorrow will be the true test for our team and where we stand in the Big Ten right now."
The Boilermakers came off the blocks fairly slow for the 16-event format, not winning a single event until the fifth, the 100 breaststroke. Freshman Tamas Bessenyei came through with a time of 55.76 to put Purdue back in the meet. Sophomore Mike Miller finished third with a time of 58.98.
In the 200 butterfly, junior Javier Diaz finished with a second first in 1:52.99 for the Old Gold and Black. Freshman Nick Cenci garnered the third place finish with a time of 1:54.48.
The 50 freestyle gave Purdue its first 1-2 finish of the night with senior Dave Weis finishing in 21.27 and junior Jon Duncan finishing close behind at 21.67.
Duncan turned around and came right back to grab a first-place finish in the 100 free with a time of 46.47 while sophomore Jeremy Wright finished fourth with a time of 47.26.
Senior Juan Rodela was Purdue's top finisher in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:52.11. Classmate Ian Caswell and freshman Will Seelbach finished right behind for third and fourth place finishes. Their times were 1:55.37 and 1:55.81, respectively.
In the 200 breast, Bessenyei took his second first-place finish of the meet in 2:02.14 and Diaz took second with a time of 2:10.54.
Senior distance swimmer Matt Martin finished first in the 500 free with a time of 4:33.10. Teammate Garth Bringman, a freshman, finished third with a time of 4:45.99.
With a time of 50.71, senior Matt Garrison finished first in the 100 butterfly while junior teammate Donovan Crowley finished third with a time of 51.87.
Diaz collected his second first-place finish of the night with a 4:04.50 time in the 400 individual medley. Junior Tom Drejer, with a time of 4:09.01, and Cenci, with a time of 4:13.43, rounded out the top three to give Purdue its only 1-2-3 finish of the night.
In the final event of the evening, the Boilermaker 400 free relay team of Duncan, freshman Kyle Jackson, Rodela and Wright finished second with a time of 3:06.83.
In one-meter diving, junior Kevin Young took fourth place with 255.30 points and freshman John Haglund finished fifth with 200.925 points.
Haglund finished third on the three-meter board with 246.75 points, while Young finished fifth with 214.575 points.
Due to a timing system error, the events of 400 medley relay and 100 backstroke were thrown out of the meet results.
The Boilermakers will return to action tomorrow, Jan. 20, when they take on Big Ten rivals Michigan and Penn State in a double-dual meet at Ann Arbor, Mich. Meet time is set for noon.
-P-