Nov. 10, 2001
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's swimming and diving team defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes today, 172-128, at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center in the first Big Ten meet of the year. The Boilermakers improve to 2-0 (1-0 Big Ten), while the Hawkeyes fall to 0-2 overall and Big Ten. The meet saw 10 Doris Z. Holloway Pool records set.
In the first race, the Boilermakers came out strong and took both the first and second place finishes in the 200 medley relay. The team of senior Jon Duncan, sophomore Tamas Bessenyei, senior Donovan Crowley and freshman Ignatius Goh tallied a time of 1:31.62 for a season-best and a pool record.
Bessenyei also recorded two individual pool records with season-best times in the 100 and 200 breaststroke. With a time of 55.76 in the 100 and a time of 2:01.46 in the 200, Bessenyei looks to defend his 100 breast Big Ten title and gather another one in the 200.
Freshman Rion Epping continued his run at a record-breaking freshman year, as he set top times and pool records in both the 1,000 and 500 free. With a time of 9:27.01, he broke his own pool record and with a time of 4:36.84, he broke the pool record set by Tom Drejer last week against Miami (Ohio).
Senior Javier Diaz had a great day, as he also set two pool records with season-best times. In the 200 free, Diaz brought home a time of 1:40.30 and in the 200 individual medley, he swam a time of 1:52.28.
Also competing in the 1,000 free were junior Jeremy Wright with a second-place finish in 9:32.89, sophomore Kyle Jackson with a time of 9:39.34 for a fourth-place finish and senior Tom Drejer with a time of 9:42.05 in an exhibition swim.
In the 200 free, freshman Eric Prugh made great strides with a time of 1:42.54 for second place.
The 100 back gave Purdue a first and third finish with freshman David Hughes with a time of 51.64 and junior Will Seelbach with a time of 52.65.
Junior Mike Miller finished second in the 100 breast with a time of 58.28, while juniors Tad Sayce and Ehud Dekter finished two and three in the 200 butterfly with times of 1:51.58 and 1:55.76.
In the 50 free, Duncan recorded another great finish with a time of 21.33, while junior Jeremy Wright, senior Javier Diaz and Duncan tallied a 1-2-3 Purdue finish in the 100 free. The 100 free was the Boilermakers' best event of the day with those finishes.
In a fast 200 back race, Hughes finished third with a time of 1:54.00 and sophomore Kyle Jackson finished fourth with a time of 1:54.32.
The 200 breast gave Purdue some scoring power, as Bessenyei, Miller and junior Gui Rego all turned in good times and a first-place finish for Rego with a time of 2:08.58. Miller and Bessenyei swam the event in exhibition.
Besides Epping in the 500 free, Purdue had freshmen Steuart Martens and Eric Prugh finish times of 4:41.84 and 4:46.30. Sophomore Garth Bringman was not far behind with a time of 4:46.91.
In the 100 butterfly, senior Donovan Crowley swam an exhibition time of 50.52, as he continues to get stronger every meet.
Sophomore Tony Ten Haagen finished very strongly in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:55.28, as well as senior Tom Drejer with a time of 1:57.77 and junior Tad Sayce with an exhibition time of 1:55.19.
In the 200 free relays, both the Purdue squads recorded good times with finishes of 1:23.76 and 1:25.62 in exhibition swims.
Other pool records set during the meet were by Iowa's Marko Milenkovic in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:50.82, Ohio State's Chris Monson on the one-meter board with 293.75 points and Ohio State's Heath Knowling on the three-meter board with 344.70 points.
The Boilermakers will return to action on Friday, Nov. 16, when they head to Evanston, Ill. for the Northwestern Invitational. The invitational is a co-ed meet and includes the men's teams from Kentucky, Louisville, Northwestern, Purdue, Southern Illinois and SMU.
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