Feb. 23, 2001
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The Purdue men's swim team completed day two of the 2001 Big Ten Men's Swimming Championships with Tamas Bessenyei's first-place finish in the 100 breaststroke. This is the freshman's first Big Ten title and Purdue's first conference champion since Vilmos Kovacs in the 200 breast in 1998. The Boilermakers are tied for seventh place as a team and broke four varsity records today.
Bessenyei captured his first-place finish with a time of 53.78 to not only become the 2001 Big Ten champion in the 100 breast, but he also recorded a Big Ten record, a Purdue varsity record and qualified for the NCAA meet with an automatic bid `A-cut' time. The previous Big Ten record was held by Eric Wunderlich of Michigan with a time of 54.19, set in 1993. The previous Boilermaker record was held by fellow Hungarian Vilmos Kovacs with a time of 54.34, set in 1997.
Bessenyei qualified for the finals of the 100 breast earlier in the day in which he also broke the previous Big Ten record, behind Minnesota's Martin Gustavsson. However, Bessenyei saved his best performance for the evening, taking first and the championship.
Also in action for the Boilermakers, Mike Miller finished 12th in the consols race of the 100 breast with a time of 56.13 and an NCAA `B-cut.' This time is also a lifetime-best.
In other events for Purdue, senior Matt Martin finished fifth in the 400 individual medley with a time of 3:51.06. Martin's prelim time of 3:49.42 is a lifetime best by almost five seconds and is good enough for an automatic bid and an NCAA `A-cut.'
The record-breaking 800 free relay also saw Martin in action as the third leg. With team members Javier Diaz, Kyle Jackson and Jeremy Wright, the Boilermaker relay was able to finish in a time of 6:34.74 for the Purdue varsity record. The previous record was held by Larsen, Cornehl, Kovacs and Croasdell with a time of 6:36.24 and was set in 1998. The new record time is also good enough for the NCAA `B-cut.'
In the 100 butterfly, the Old Gold and Black qualified Tad Sayce for the finals competition and Matt Garrison and Donovan Crowley for the consolation competition. Sayce finished in eighth place with a time of 48.42, a Purdue varsity record, a lifetime best time and an NCAA `B-cut' time. The previous record was held by Dan Kleber with a time of 48.82 and was set at the 2000 Big Ten Championships.
In the consols round, Garrison finished 14th for the Boilermakers with a time of 48.93. In the prelims, Garrison also finished 14th with a lifetime-best time of 48.89. Crowley finished 16th in the consols round with a time of 49.94. Like Garrison, Crowley swam a faster time in the prelims round, 48.94, just 0.04 seconds short of a lifetime-best time.
Juan Rodela qualified for the finals race of the 100 back and finished eighth with a time of 49.72. Although just short of another varsity record, Rodela did capture a lifetime-best time in the100 back.
Also qualifying for the consols heat of the 100 back was John Wakefield. Wakefield finished 16th with a time of 50.30.
In the 200 freestyle consols race, Wright finished 12th with a time of 1:38.23 and an NCAA `B-cut', while Diaz finished 14th with a time of 1:38.31 and an NCAA `B-cut.' Wright's finish is a new lifetime-best by more than three seconds.
Finally, in the 200 medley relay, Rodela, Bessenyei, Crowley and David Weis finished third with a time of 1:28.34 and a new varsity record. This time is good enough for an NCAA `B-cut' also. The previous record was held by Rodela, Kovacs, Crowley and Duncan with a time of 1:29.31 and was set in 1999.
The Boilermakers will look to move up in the points total and extend their record-breaking ways into the final day of competition tomorrow. Prelims will start at noon, CST and the finals will begin at 7 p.m. CST.
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