Feb. 1, 2003
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The 18th-ranked Purdue men's swimming and diving team sits in second place after Day One of the Triple Duals meet against No. 6 Minnesota and No. 10 Wisconsin in Minneapolis. The men of the Old Gold and Black lead the Badgers by one point, 92-91, but are behind the Golden Gophers, 135-51.
"Today, we were struggling a little bit," said Purdue head men's swimming coach Dan Ross. "But, I'm very happy to see that we're hanging right with Wisconsin, the No. 10 team in the country. We aren't swimming crisply and we're just going to have to step it and hope to battle back for our races on Saturday."
In the 200 medley relay, the first event of the evening, the Boilermakers finished third and fifth with times of 1:31.03 and 1:34.58.
On the diving board, junior David Hansich finished third with a score of 231.30 and sophomore Clay Davis finished fifth with a score of 211.60 after failing one dive on the evening.
In the 1,000 freestyle, sophomore Rion Epping came in third with a time of 9:22.92 and senior Jeremy Wright and junior Kyle Jackson came in 4-5 in the 200 freestyle.
Sophomore Louis Paul finished third in the 100 backstroke with a time of 49.69 and junior Tamas Bessenyei was narrowly touched out by defending Big Ten champion Jeff Hackler. Freshman Giordan Pogioli came in fifth with a time of 57.58.
In the 200 fly, freshman Blake Scholz was Purdue's top finisher in fourth place with a time of 1:52.78 and in the 200 IM, Paul was the winner with a time of 1:51.20, while senior Tad Sayce came in fourth in 1:53.23.
Wrapping up the evening, the 800 free relay team finished third with a time of 6:50.48.
The Old Gold and Black returns to the water at noon, CST, today at the Aquatic Center in Minneapolis. Then, the Boilermakers will return home to take on the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday, Feb. 8, at 2 p.m., at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center.
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