Oct. 24, 2003
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - With each team anchored by a 2003 NCAA Qualifier, the annual Black-Old Gold Intrasquad Meet stayed a seesaw battle right until the very end, but it was the Old Gold Team which prevailed, 111-105, Friday night at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center.
Bessnyei, of the Old Gold Squad, won the 200-yard breaststroke in covincing fashion with a mark of 2:05.45, which was over six seconds faster than second-place Mark Wolfred, who came in at 2:11.50. The Hungarian native kicked off the race pushing the 400 medley team to a first-place time of 3:35.47.
After Old Gold captured a small lead early on, Paul bounced the Black team back into contention with triumphs in the 200 individual medley and the 100 freestyle. Paul won the 200 IM with a time of 1:54.99, finishing ahead of the Old Gold team's Mark Enoch (1:58.18). Six events later, Paul snatched his second victory of the night swimming a 46.91 in the 100-free, outdistancing Old Gold's Eric Prugh, who came in at 47.43.
Prugh's night was not a total loss, as he scored a victory of his own in the 200 free with time of 1:43.37. Kyle Jackson of the Black team took the runner-up title with a time of 1:44.84. Like Prugh, Jackson also rebounded from a second-place showing, as he won the 200 backstroke title in 1:54.79. Nick Cenci of the Old Gold team touched in at 1:56.84 to earn second place status.
Old Gold began to pull away midway through the meet after receiving victories from Iggy Goh in the 50-yard (21.28), and from Steuart Martens in the 500 free (4:44.22). Martens earlier took second in the 1,000 free with a time of 9:43.90.
However, the turning point for the Old Gold rally was its sweep of the 200 butterfly, by Blake Scholz (1:54.28) and Bessenyei (1:58.68). The Black team's closest competitor in this race was Wolfred, who placed third at 1:59.66. Wolfred came through with a win of his own in the 1,000, timing in at 9:43.72.
Josh Karshen of the Black team attempted to pull his team back into contention with a win off the 1-meter springboard (322.95), but Old Gold's Steve LoBue scored the second-place points with his score of of 301.35.
The Purdue swimming and diving teams officially kick off their 2003-04 campaign Saturday at noon with the Indiana Intercollegiates. The Boilermakers will be joined at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center by Ball State, Butler, Indianapolis, Indiana (women only), IUPUI and Valparaiso.