Nov. 18, 2001
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's swimming and diving team finished off the Northwestern Invitational today and held onto first place for the win with 1,123.5 points. The Boilermakers' closest opponent was Northwestern with 800.5 points with Southern Illinois in third place (689) and Louisville in fourth (209).
"I am very pleased with this weekend's performances and the way in which we won," said Purdue head coach Dan Ross. "We swam very well for this time of year and it's a good closing to our fall season. We go into the holidays unbeaten and we'll be ready to come back after Christmas training to head back into our Big Ten schedule."
Over the weekend, Purdue's strong point was the relay events. The Boilermakers won all five relay events, meeting their goal of the meet.
In the first event of the day, freshman David Hughes finished second with a time of 1:51.49 in the 200 backstroke. Junior Will Seelbach, sophomore Kyle Jackson and freshman Eric Prugh also scored in the top eight, finishing in fifth, sixth and seventh places at 1:54.27, 1:55.03 and 1:55.84.
In the 100 freestyle, senior Jon Duncan finished third in 46.55, senior Javier Daiz was fourth with a time of 46.63, junior Tad Sayce was fifth in 46.87 and senior Donovan Crowley was sixth with a time of 47.06. In the consolation heat, junior Jeremy Wright, freshman Ignatius Goh, Prugh, senior Ryan Sprengel and freshman John Arzner also tallied points in the top 16.
Sophomore Tamas Bessenyei earned his second Norris Aquatics Center pool record of the weekend with a first-place finish in the 200 breaststroke in 2:00.54. Sophomore Tony Ten Haagen (2:07.59), junior Gui Rego (2:08.00) and sophomore Garth Bringman (2:15.05) also finished in the top eight to score for Purdue.
Freshman Rion Epping has quickly stepped up in the distance events and took home a first-place finish in the 1,650 freestyle with a time of 15:53.49. Senior Tom Drejer finished fifth in 16:10.48, Bringman was ninth in 16:30.45 and sophomore Ian Lehman finished 10th in 16:36.77.
Sayce grabbed the fourth spot in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:52.82, while Diaz was in fifth in 1:53.33. Ten Haagen and sophomore Nick Cenci finished seventh and eighth, with times of 1:54.70 and 1:56.11, respectively. In the consolation heat, junior Ehud Dekter and Lehman also gathered points in ninth and 14th places.
In the final relay of the weekend, Purdue went out with a bang, as they finished first with a time of 3:04.36. Wright, Duncan, Sayce and Diaz were members of the 'A' squad, while the 'B' relay finished fourth with Jackson, Sprengel, Goh and senior Donovan Crowley.
The Boilermakers will return to action when they head to Florida for their annual Christmas training and competition. On Dec. 22, the Boilermakers will meet Florida Atlantic and Texas A&M in Boca Raton, Fla. at 1 p.m.
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