Nov. 22, 2002
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The No. 18 Purdue men's swimming and diving team defeated the unranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Friday, 175-123, at the Rolfs Aquatic Center in South Bend. With the win, the Boilermakers improve to 7-0 on the year, while Notre Dame falls to 4-3.
"As I mentioned before, one of our goals going into the fall season was to remain undefeated," said Purdue head men's swimming coach Dan Ross. "Tonight we did that and we feel really good about it."
The Boilermakers highlighted the night with 11 first-place finishes, despite finishing second in both relay events.
Notre Dame started the night strong with a win in the 400 medley relay for the first 400 medley relay defeat of the year for Purdue. Finishing second was the Boilermaker 'A' team of Kyle Jackson, Tamas Bessenyei, Blake Scholz, and Eric Prugh with a time of 3:27.26. The Purdue 'B' team of David Hughes, Giordan Pogioli, Ian Lehman and Will Seelbach finished third with a time of 3:29.94.
The Boilermakers quickly tallied three first-place finishes in a row with sophomore Rion Epping earning first in the 1,650 free in 15:48.21. It marked the first 1,650 win of the year for Epping, as the Old Gold and Black has not had the 1,650 swam at any of their previous meets. Sophomore Louis Paul finished first in the 200 free with a time of 1:42.01 and sophomore David Hughes was first in the 100 backstroke with a mark of 51.90.
Pogioli finished second in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 58.43, while junior Nick Cenci was first in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:52.32 and Bessenyei was right behind in second with a time of 1:54.92.
Senior Jeremy Wright was Purdue's top finisher in the 50 free in first with a time of 21.49 and Paul was first again in the 100 free with a time of 46.37.
In the 200 backstroke, Jackson finished first with a time of 1:52.40 and senior Tad Sayce was first in the 200 breaststroke in 2:08.04. Wright grabbed another first in the 500 free with a time of 4:36.09, while senior Ehud Dekter finished second.
Purdue's top finisher in the 200 fly was junior Tony Ten Haagen in second place, while Bessenyei was third again.
In the 200 IM, Sayce was first with a time of 1;55.09 and sophomore Eric Prugh was third with a time of 1:59.57.
On the diving boards, sophomore Clayton Davis finished first on the 1-meter and second on the 3-meter, while junior David Hanisch was third on both the 1-meter and 3-meter. Freshman walk-on addition Bob Hennessy tallied two fourth-place finishes on both boards.
The Boilermakers have competed their fall season for the year. They will return to the pool on Jan. 2, 2003, when they participate in the Rainbow Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii, over their holiday training trip. Their next home meet will be when the Indiana Hoosiers visit the Boilermaker Aquatic Center for Senior Day on Feb. 8, 2003.
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