Nov. 17, 2001
EVANSTON, Ill. - The Purdue women's swimming and diving team continues to dominate the field in Day Two of the Northwestern Invitational in Evanston. The Boilermakers have a total of 831 points compared to Northwestern's 762, Southern Illinois' 295 and Louisville's 171. Through the finals of Saturday's events, the Old Gold and Black has won 11 out of 14 events.
"We are doing an outstanding job of swimming fast," said Purdue head coach Cathy Wright-Eger. "We won six of eight events today and that brings us to a total of 11 our of 14. So, we're really happy with where we're at and we're going to finish up strong with tomorrow's competitions."
After a morning prelims session, the Boilermakers returned to make the 200 medley relay their first win of the night with a time of 1:43.95 with the relay team of junior Lisa Dolansky, junior Lindsay Lange, junior Patricia Finnerty and junior Kim Paradeise. Purdue's 'B' relay finished third with a time of 1:47.64 with team members freshman Brandy Keever, sophomore Lindsay Kirchoff, senior Karin Stender and freshman Tracy Duchac.
Then in the 400 individual medley, senior Kelly Mackus finished second with a time of 4:25.75 and junior Jenni Bean was fourth in 4:25.88. Junior Shannon Funk also finished sixth in 4:31.83. In the consolation final, sophomore Autumn Sample was 10th and Stender finished in 11th place.
Finnerty gathered a second-place finish in the 100 butterfly with a time of 56.32, as Stender was in fourth with a time of 57.93 and Sample finished fifth in 57.97. Freshman Lydia DeNuccio won the consolation final race for ninth-place and sophomore Stacie Kleber finished 11th with senior Katie Mullarkey in 13th.
In the 200 freestyle for the women, freshman Christine Leupold won with a time of 1:51.46 for an NCAA 'B' cut time and a Purdue freshman record. Paradeise finished second with a time of 1:52.37 to give the 1-2 punch for the Boilermakers, as Bean finished fourth in 1:54.43, freshman Katie Seleskie finished fifth in 1:54.61 and freshman Brenda Banning won the consolation heat for ninth-place with a lifetime-best time.
In the 100 breaststroke, Purdue dominated the field as sophomore Lindsay Lange won the event in 1:02.70. In her morning swim, Lange recorded a Purdue varsity record time and a Northwestern pool record, along with an NCAA 'A' cut for the automatic bid to the Championships.
Finishing off the 100 breast, Kirchoff finished second with a lifetime-best time of 1:04.33, senior Ronica Rogalski finished fourth with a time of 1:04.92 and junior Karina Bolanos was sixth with a time of 1:05.98. Duchac finished 16th in the consolation final.
Junior phenom Lisa Dolansky continued her reign in the backstroke, recording a finish of 55.45 in the 100 back for another first-place finish. Keever finished in 59.04 for fifth place and DeNuccio tallied a time of 1:01.22 for seventh place. In the consolation heat, Banning won again.
In the final team event of the night, Purdue capped the evening session off with a 1-2 finish in the 800 free relay with times of 7:37.06 and 7:41.58, respectively. Team members of the first-place team were Dolansky, Bean, Paradeise and Leupold. Members of the second-place team were Seleskie, Finnerty, Banning and Mackus.
On the diving board, senior Kara Hajek-Gustafson won the 1-meter competition with a score of 295.80.
The Boilermakers will return to the water tomorrow when they finish with Day Three of the Northwestern Invitational.
-P-