Jan. 18, 2002
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Purdue men's swimming and diving team held its own against the No. 20 Penn State Nittany Lions and the No. 12 Michigan Wolverines in the first session of the two-day meet at Penn State's McCoy Natatorium. Aside from diving, the evening's events were not scored.
"Today was a pretty good meet for us," said Purdue head men's swim coach Dan Ross. "Unfortunately for us, some of our best events were not scored. But, Rion Epping had a really great race in the 1,650 and swam it just the way we wanted him to. Tamas Bessenyei is on a roll that just continues to get better and despite some illnesses, we found a way to win with our medley relay.
"We'll come back ready to go tomorrow, because we know that both Michigan and Penn State are anxious to get at us for some points."
The Boilermakers tallied three first-place finishes en route to their evening, with the first being the inaugural event of the evening. The team of freshman Louis Paul, sophomore Tamas Bessenyei and seniors Donovan Crowley and Jon Duncan finished ahead of both Penn State and Michigan with a time of 1:31.11. The Old Gold and Black's 'B' team of freshman David Hughes, juniors Mike Miller and Tad Sayce and senior Ryan Sprengel finished fourth with a time of 1:34.65.
In the 1,650 freestyle, freshman Rion Epping had a great race and finished ahead of former Pan Am champion Tim Siciliano of Michigan. Epping's time of 15:29.16 is a season-best by more than 30 seconds.
In the 100 backstroke, Hughes and junior Will Seelbach finished together, tying for sixth with a time of 52.35 and sophomore Kyle Jackson finished eighth with a time of 52.81.
In the 400 individual medley, sophomore Tony Ten Haagen was the top Boilermaker finisher in fourth place in 4:02.37. Sophomore Nick Cenci finished eighth and senior Tom Drejer finished 10th.
The 200 freestyle relay team of Duncan, Paul, Sprengel and junior Jeremy Wright finished third with a time of 1:23.68.
Defending Big Ten champion Tamas Bessenyei held onto his undefeated season in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 55.51. Miller and Ten Haagen finished fourth and 12th respectively.
Freshman Ignatius Goh was the only Boilermaker in the 100 fly race, finishing 12th in 52.96.
The final event of the night was the 800 freestyle relay in which the Boilermakers finished second, behind Michigan's 'A' squad. The Purdue team of Wright, senior Javier Diaz, junior Ehud Dekter and Jackson finished just shy of their season-best time with a time of 6:44.07.
The Boilermakers will return to the pool on Saturday, Jan. 19, when they finish the double-dual meet with the scored portion of the weekend.
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