Feb. 3, 2001
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's swim team defeated Indiana today, 131-112, for Senior Day and the final meet ever to be held in historic Lambert Pool. The Boilermakers finish their regular season with a record of 7-3 (4-3 Big Ten) while the Hoosiers fall to 2-6 (0-5).
"Today was a great meet for us," Purdue head coach Dan Ross. "The guys really swam well today. This meet was so meaningful and we really put our hearts into it. I'm very proud of the way we finished off all the races and swam hard the whole way through."
In the first race of the day, the Boilermakers came off the blocks strong and took both first place and a Lambert Pool record homed. Senior Juan Rodela, freshman Tamas Bessenyei, sophomore Tad Sayce and junior Jon Duncan finished in 3:19.57. Two other Purdue relay teams also finished third and fourth.
Senior Matt Martin finished the 1000 freestyle with a time of 9:17.07 for first place, while junior teammate Tomasz Drejer finished third with a time of 9:31.85.
Sophomore Jeremy Wright finished first in the 200 free with a time of 1:39.94. Junior Javier Diaz finished second with a time of 1:40.06 and freshman Will Seelbach finished fourth with a time of 1:41.76.
In the 50 free, senior Dave Weis finished first with a time of 21.15. Junior Donovan Crowley finished fourth with a time of 21.97 and Rodela finished sixth with a time of 22.09.
Sayce finished second in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:52.71. Martin, in 1:54.60, finished fourth and freshman Tony Ten Haagen finished fifth with a time of 1:56.63.
In a come from behind race, Bessenyei was narrowly edged by and took second place in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:52.05. Diaz finished third with a time of 1:52.45 and sophomore Ehud Dekter finished fourth in 1:55.10.
In a 1-2 finish for Purdue, Duncan finished with a time of 45.92 and Wright finished with a time of 46.22 in the 100 free. Weis finished in fourth place with a time of 48.00.
The 200 backstroke was another exciting race for the Boilermakers as Rodela narrowly finished in second place with a time of 1:51.23. Senior Ian Caswell finished third with a time of 1:52.30 and freshman Kyle Jackson finished fifth with a time of 1:53.76.
Martin tallied his second first-place finish of the day with a time of 4:32.04 in the 500 free. Drejer finished with a time of 4:34.71 for third place and freshman Garth Bringman finished fifth with a time of 4:42.64.
-more- With a first-place finish, Bessenyei took home a time of 2:03.89 in the 200 breaststroke, putting the Boilermakers ahead for good. Sophomore teammate Gui Rego finished third in 2:06.42. Sophomore Mike Miller finished fourth with a time of 2:06.70.
In the final event of the day, after a close finish, the Boilermakers finished second in the 400 free relay. Team members were Wright, Diaz, Sayce and Duncan.
In the diving events held previously, freshman John Haglund finished fourth with 233.40 points and junior Kevin Young finished fifth with 195.45 points on the one-meter board.
On the three-meter board, Haglund finished fourth with 416.18 points and Young finished fifth with 368.10 points.
The Boilermakers will return to action when they head to Minnesota for the men's Big Ten Championships on Feb. 22.
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