Nov. 7, 2003
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's swimming and diving team dropped a 162.5-137.5 dual-meet decision at Iowa on Friday. The meet was the Boilermakers' first in Big Ten action, giving them a 0-1 overall and conference record.
Despite the loss, Purdue divers provided some highlights. Junior Clay Davis won the 1-meter, with a score of 323.25, while freshman Steve LoBue won the 3-meter, with a score of 341.03. LoBue beat out Hawkeyes Timo Klami, the reigning Big Ten 3-meter champion, by 29 points. Klami finished third in the event, behind LoBue and Davis (332.01).
The swimmers produced six additional first-place finishes, with three Boilermakers winning two events each. Junior Steuart Martens won the 500 free, touching in 4:39.97, and won the 1,000 free in 9:36.32. Junior Louis Paul won both the 200 backstroke and 200 IM; his first time was 1:49.21, while his second was 1:52.47. Senior Tamas Bessenyei touched first in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, with times of 55.02 and 2:00.10.
Purdue's 200 medley relay team of Paul, Bessenyei, junior Iggy Goh and sophomore Andre Pereira came in second, with a time of 1:31.64. The Boilermakers' 400 free relay team of junior Eric Prugh, senior Kyle Jackson, Pereira and sophomore Blake Scholz came in second, with a time of 3:07.06.
Purdue head coach Dan Ross still found reason to be positive following the conference-opening defeat.
"You never like to lose a meet, but I am very pleased with our performances," Ross said. "We were significantly faster than we were two weeks ago, so we have nothing to hold our heads about."
The Boilermakers will return to action Nov. 14, with a tri-meet against Florida Atlantic and Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
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