Feb. 1, 2002
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's swimming and diving team is in second place after day one of the annual co-ed Quad Meet. The No. 24 Boilermakers are behind the No. 6 Golden Gophers, 124-61, but lead the No. 15 Badgers, 107-77.
"Today we swam just okay for this time of year," said Purdue head men's coach Dan Ross. "We found a way to get some great finishes, but we also lost a little bit of momentum when Wisconsin won three races in a row. But, I thought we competed well and I certainly expect us to come back tomorrow and do even better."
The men of the Old Gold and Black started the evening strong with a very close race in the 200 medley relay, just finishing short of Minnesota's pool record time of 1:29.71. The Boilermaker team of Louis Paul, Tamas Bessenyei, Donovan Crowley and Jon Duncan finished in 1:30.58.
In the 1,000 free, Minnesota's Justin Mortimer set a pool record with a time of 9:08.97, while Purdue's Rion Epping finished second with a time of 9:24.80 and Tom Drejer finished fifth in 9:34.34.
In the 200 free, Minnesota's Matt Taylor set another Holloway Pool record with a time of 1:38.17, while Boilermakers Javier Diaz, Eric Prugh and Jeremy Wright finished 3-4-5.
Minnesota tallied another pool record as Todd Smolinski finished in 48.52, while Paul was the top Boilermaker finisher in third with 50.60.
Bessenyei defended his pool record in the 100 breast, although not with a faster time. He finished first with a time of 55.86.
In the 200 fly, Pat Torpey of Wisconsin recorded a Holloway Pool record with a time of 1:49.76. Purdue's fastest finisher was Ehud Dekter with a time of 1:53.78 in fifth place.
Allen Ong of Minnesota set another pool record in the 50 free with a time of 20.62. Duncan was the top Boilermaker finisher in fifth place with a time of 21.13.
Another pool record for Minnesota was Diego Urreta's time of 1:50.82 in the 200 IM. Diaz was again the top Purdue finisher in fourth place with a time of 1:52.90.
In the final event of the night, the Boilermakers finished second in the 800 free relay with team members Jeremy Wright, Kyle Jackson, Eric Prugh and Diaz with a time of 6:44.98.
On the men's 1-meter diving board, Purdue's Clay Davis took first with a score of 281.55, Kevin Young finished fifth with 232.40 points and Eric Warrick finished sixth with 228.85 points.
The Boilermakers will return to the water tomorrow morning with the diving events beginning at 10 a.m. and the swimming events beginning at noon. A brief senior salute will begin shortly before the noon meet.
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