March 1, 2002
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Purdue men's swimming and diving team remains in eighth place after Day Two of the 2002 Men's Big Ten Swimming & Diving Championships. The Boilermakers have totaled 184 points after two days of competition in 14 events.
In the first event of the evening's finals competition, the Boilermakers finished in fifth place in the 200-yard medley relay. Team members freshman Louis Paul, sophomore Tamas Bessenyei, senior Donovan Crowley and junior Jeremy Wright finished with a time of 1:28.20, two seconds faster than the Purdue best this season, for an NCAA provisional B-cut time.
In the 400-yard individual medley, sophomore Nick Cenci was the only Boilermaker to qualify for the night's finals swim with a morning's prelims finish of 3:56.15 in 13th place. Tonight, Cenci finished 16th in 3:57.53.
Also in the morning session, sophomore Tony Ten Haagen finished just shy of the second alternate spot in 19th place with a time of 3:58.51 and senior Tomasz Drejer finished 21st with a time of 3:59.51. Freshman Rion Epping also finished with a time of 4:00.24 for 24th place and sophomore Garth Bringman finished 25th with a time of 4:00.65.
In the 100-yard butterfly, junior Tad Sayce was the lone Boilermaker to qualify for the night's finals round with a prelim finish of 16th with a time of 48.92. Tonight, Sayce moved up to 14th place, despite a slightly slower time of 49.04.
Crowley finished in the first alternate spot of 17 in the morning session with a time of 48.97, freshman Ignatius Goh finished 37th in his first Big Ten meet with a time of 51.33 and senior Ryan Sprengel finished 40th in the 100 fly with a time of 52.39 in his inaugural Big Ten meet, as well.
The 200-yard freestyle race was the Boilermakers' strongest race of the day, with three men qualifying for the night finals swim. Sophomore Jeremy Wright was the top finisher in the prelims session with a 10th-place finish and an NCAA B-cut time of 1:38.30. He finished in 13th place in the night session with a time of 1:39.00, also a B-cut time. Senior Javier Diaz finished 11th in the morning session with a B-cut time of 1:38.58 and finaled in 12th place with a time of 1:38.92 for his second B-cut time. Sophomore Kyle Jackson finished 15th in the prelims with a time of 1:38.77 for his first B-cut time and finaled with a time of 1:39.20 for 16th place.
Also swimming in the morning's prelims session of the 200-yard free were freshman Eric Prugh in 23rd with a time of 1:40.63, junior Ehud Dekter in 28th place with a time of 1:40.93, junior Will Seelbach in 39th place with a time of 1:42.14, sophomore Ian Lehman in 46th place in 1:43.03 and freshman Steuart Martens in 48th place with a time of 1:43.30.
In the 100-yard breaststroke, sophomore Tamas Bessenyei was not able to defend his Big Ten title against Minnesota's Jeff Hackler. Bessenyei finished second in both the morning and in the finals session. Hackler broke both Bessenyei's Big Ten Meet Record and Purdue alumnus Vilmos Kovacs' Indiana pool record with both his swims. Bessenyei recorded an NCAA automatic A-cut time of 53.94 with his finals swim and swam a season-best.
Also swimming the 100-yard breast were juniors Mike Miller with a time of 56.73 for 23rd place and Gui Rego in 28th place with a time of 57.84.
In the 100-yard backstroke, Paul and Duncan both qualified out of the morning's session for the night's finals. Paul finished sixth in the prelims with a time of 49.04 for an NCAA B-cut and eighth in the finals with a slightly slower time of 49.47 for eighth. Duncan finished 14th in both races, also swimming slightly faster in the morning with a time of 50.35.
Freshman David Hughes had a good showing in the morning session, finishing 24th with a time of 51.01.
On the 3-meter diving board, freshman Clay Davis narrowly missed scoring in the top eight, with a score of 467.10 in ninth place. Sophomore Eric Warrick finished 13th for his first Big Ten Meet 3-meter points with a score of 426.10. Senior Kevin Young finished out his career as a Boilermaker with a 19th-place performance with a score of 371.85.
In the final event of the night, the 800-yard freestyle relay team of Diaz, Jackson, Prugh and Wright finished fifth with a time of 6:36.22 for an NCAA B-cut time.
The complete list of team scores is as follows:
1 University of Minnesota 4872 University of Michigan 415.503 Penn State University 2904 University of Wisconsin 253.505 Indiana University 2416 The Ohio State University 2367 Northwestern University 2278 Purdue University 1849 The University of Iowa 16710 Michigan State University 93
The Boilermakers will return to the pool in hopes of raising their score tomorrow at the Councilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center. Purdue will swim the morning session at noon and return for the last day of the finals at 7 p.m.
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