Feb. 10, 2002
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Purdue men's swimming & diving team fell on Saturday to the Hoosiers, 136.5 - 106.5. The Boilermakers fall to 6-5 (3-4 Big Ten), while the Hoosiers improve to 5-3 (2-3 Big Ten).
"Even though we lost, today was a good meet," said Purdue head men's swimming coach Dan Ross. "We had a lot of season-best times with a lot of different individuals. I'm really proud of the way our guys competed. Indiana was just really fired up after we beat them last year in Lambert (Pool) and they took advantage of being in their home facility and gave us really good races. It was, by far, their fastest race of the year but now, we're going to get ready for Big Ten's because we'll have to go back to their home pool. We have two and a half or three weeks to get ready and we'll take full advantage."
The Boilermakers started off the meet with second- and third-place finishes in their best relay event - the 400 medley. The team of freshman Louis Paul, sophomore Tamas Bessenyei, junior Tad Sayce and junior Jeremy Wright finished with a time of 3:19.63, which was just short of a season-best time. Coming in third was the team of freshman David Hughes, junior Mike Miller, senior Donovan Crowley and senior Ryan Sprengel with a time of 3:25.48.
In the 1,000 free, freshman Rion Epping gave Indiana's Richard Bryant a good race, finishing with a time of 9:22.70. Senior Tom Drejer finished third with a season-best time of 9:30.92, while freshman Steuart Martens finished fourth with a time of 9:41.86.
Freshman Eric Prugh took first in the 200 free with another season-best time of 1:40.27 and senior Javier Diaz tied for second with Indiana's Heath Montogomery in 1:40.45. Sophomore Kyle Jackson finished fourth with his season-best of 1:41.73.
In the 50 free, Indiana took the 1-2-3 spots and the Boilermakers fell in at fourth with freshman Ignatius Goh's best time of 21.05. Senior Jon Duncan finished fifth with a time of 21.16.
Paul continues to make a large impact as a first-semester freshman with his third-place finish in the 200 IM with a time of 1:54.66. Purdue took the fourth- and fifth-place spots, as well, with Sayce and sophomore Tony Ten Haagen.
Bessenyei was the Boilermakers' top finisher in the 200 butterfly, with a time of 1:51.94 for third place. Purdue took the last three places, as well, with sophomore Nick Cenci, junior Ehud Dekter and Ten Haagen.
Duncan and Goh switched spots on the finish in the 100 free, as Duncan came in third in 46.20 and Goh in fourth in 46.42.
Paul tallied another Purdue first in the 200 back with a time of 1:50.57 and Hughes earned a season-best time with a third-place finish in 1:51.05.
Epping, Wright, Drejer and Martens finished second through fifth in the 500 free. Epping earned a season-best time with his finish of 4:34.36.
Bessenyei fell in the 200 breast by two hundredths of a second to Indiana's David Schulze with a time of 2:00.26. Miller came in third with a time of 2:03.62, a season-best, and junior Gui Rego finished fourth with a time of 2:06.41, also a season-best.
In the second relay of the day, Purdue took the first-place finish with Duncan, Wright, Sayce and Diaz in the 400 free relay with a time of 3:02.92. The 'B' relay team of Goh, Sprengel, sophomore Kyle Jackson and Prugh finished third in 3:06.96.
On the diving boards, the Hoosiers were suprized by freshman Clay Davis on the 1-meter. Davis recorded a first-place finish with a season-best score of 300.15 points. Senior Kevin Young finished fifth with a score of 234.90 and sophomore Eric Warrick finished sixth with a score of 234.53.
On the 3-meter board, the Hoosiers swept first through third places. Warrick finished fourth with a score of 296.70, Davis was fifth with 258.68 points and Young finished sixth with a score of 255.08.
The Boilermakers will return to the pool when they return to the Councilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center in Bloomington for the 2002 Big Ten Men's Swimming & Diving Championships. The Championships will run Feb. 28 - March 2.
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