Nov. 17, 2001
EVANSTON, Ill. - The Purdue men's swimming and diving team continues to lead with 772.5 points after Day Two of the Northwestern Invitational in Evanston. The Boilermakers finished the day with five first-places to maintain the healthy lead over Northwestern with 532.5 points, Southern Illinois with 483 points and Louisville with 154 points.
"Everyone on our team is doing very well and winning the meet handidly over a quality Northwestern team," said Purdue head coach Dan Ross. "Unfortunately, we haven't won as many individual events as we would like, but we feel good with our relay finishes."
Purdue started out strong with a time of 1:31.76 for the winning 200 medley relay. Senior Jon Duncan, sophomore Tamas Bessenyei, senior Donovan Crowley and senior Ryan Sprengel were the team members from the first-place team.
In the 400 individual medley, senior Javier Diaz broke out and recorded a time of 3:58.36 for the first -place finish and sophomore Tony Ten Haagen finished fourth in 4:01.97. Senior Tom Drejer (4:04.25, 5th), sophomore Nick Cenci (4:09.90, 7th) and freshman Rion Epping (4:10.67, 8th) also gathered first round finals finishes. In the consolation heat, sophomore Garth Bringman finished 11th.
Junior Tad Sayce recorded a second-place finish with a time of 49.48 in the 100 butterfly. Senior Donovan Crowley finished fourth in 50.43 and freshman Ignatius Goh finished eighth with a time of 52.96. In the consolation heat, Sprengel finished 13th and freshman David Hughes finished 15th.
Wright finished second in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:41.59 in the next event of the day. Also finishing in the finals heat were sophomore Kyle Jackson (1:41.75, T-3rd), freshman Eric Prugh (1:42.03, 6th) and junior Will Seelbach (1:43.37, 7th). In the consolation heat of this race, Drejer and sophomore Ian Lehman finished 10th and 11th.
Bessenyei held strong on his 100 breaststroke time and finish, as he was first with a time of 55.18. Crowley finished second with a time of 57.37 and junior co-captain Gui Rego finished sixth in 59.51.
In the 100 backstroke, freshman David Hughes won with a time of 51.08 and Jackson was fourth in 52.46. Duncan and Seelbach gathered finishes of fifth and sixth with times of 52.49 and 52.61, respectively. Cenci also added a finals finish of eighth with a time of 53.90.
In the final team event of the evening, the 800 freestyle relay 'A' team won with a time of 6:44.78, with team members Diaz, Jackson, Prugh and Wright.
For the men on the 3-meter board, freshman Clay Davis won with a score of 515.50. Sophomore transfer Eric Warrick finished second on the board for the 1-2 Purdue punch.
"Our divers are just doing great," said Ross. "I can't remember the last time that we went anywhere and finished with a 1-2 finish on one of the boards.
The Boilermakers will return to action tomorrow at 3 p.m. CST when they finish with Day Three of the Northwestern Invitational.
-P-