Nov. 15, 2003
ATLANTA, Ga. - The men's swimming and diving team should certainly move up in the national rankings after spanking the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, 213-134, and the Florida Atlantic Owls, 268-61, this weekend at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center. The Boilermakers substantially extended their lead from Friday night by winning six events, while setting a pair of pool records.
"I'm very pleased with our performances this weekend, in particular Steve LoBue and Giordan Pogioli," said head coach Dan Ross. "We excelled in nearly every event and made certain that Georgia Tech could not creep back into the lead."
The Boilermakers entered this weekend receiving a handful of votes in the CSCAA poll, but could break into the top 25 with these convincing victories behind them. Their dual meet record now stands at 2-1.
LoBue, a freshman diver from Ewing, N.J., impressed all competitors and coaches with his performance off the 3-meter, posting a winning score of 310.88. His score was over 25 points better than runner-up and teammate Clay Davis, who scored a 285.52.
Davis won Big Ten Diver of the week honors last weekend for his performances against Iowa, and it looks like LoBue might receive serious consideration for his wins this weekend. During Friday night's competition, LoBue finished well ahead of all his opposition off the 3-meter, scoring a mark of 331.80.
In the pool, sophomore Pogioli made some history, both personal and professional. In the 200 breaststroke, not only did his winning time of 2:02.87 set a new pool record, but it was fast enough to defeat senior Tamas Bessenyei, who came in second at 2:03.21. Prior to today, Pogioli had never finished ahead of his mentor in any breaststroke race.
Earlier in the day, Pogioli placed second in the 400 individual medley, coming in at 4:06.11.
The second pool record clocked by Purdue came courtesy of junior Louis Paul, who led the field in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:49.57. The next closest competitor to Paul was Georgia Tech's Matt Figh, who finished nearly six second behind him at 1:55.50. Paul's teammate Luke Dickson took third at 1:55.53.
Individual Purdue victories were also collected by Iggy Goh (100 butterfly) and Eric Prugh (100 free). Goh came across the finish line in 50.93, while Prugh touched the wall first in 46.82. Goh was also part of the winning 200 medley relay team, which scored a time of 1:33.61. The Signapore native was joined on the squad by Bessenyei, David Hughes and Andre Pereria.
The men's team returns home to the Boilermaker Aquatic Center on Friday, Nov. 21 for the start of the three day Boilermaker Invitational. Prelim sessions run daily from 12 - 2 p.m., while finals run from 7 - 9 p.m. Sunday's finals, however, will start at 5 p.m. and go to 7 p.m.
"We're extremely excited about hosting this meet," said Ross. "It's going to be nice to compete in front of the hometown crowd and give them some of our best performances of the season."