Nov. 21, 2003
College Station, Texas - The women's swimming and diving team finds itself in fourth place with 421 points after the first day of competition at the Texas A&M Fall Invitational. The Boilermakers received several solid performances from their freestylers who collected a third-place showing in the 200 freestyle relay, and three top-15 finishes in the 50 free.
Purdue is within striking distance of the nation's top teams including first-place UCLA (619 points), host A&M (510) and SMU (467). Trailing the Boilermakers are Florida State (417), Virginia (250) and Notre Dame (217). Also of note, is that this weekend's events are being competed in short course meter pool.
"We're very excited about how well we competed tonight," said head coach Cathy Wright-Eger. "The swimmers recorded a handful of lifetime bests, some NCAA 'B' qualifying times, and we're right in there with eighth-ranked SMU and 17th-ranked Notre Dame."
The Boilermakers made a quick impression on the competition with a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay. Purdue's 'A' team of Tracy Duchac, Kimbre Vogel, Katie Seleskie and Susan Hentschel clocked a NCAA 'B' time of 1:43.36, which was just .04 seconds behind runner up Florida State and just over a half second behind winner UCLA.
Duchac, Hentschel and Seleskie later provided the Boilermakers with double-digit point totals in the 50-meter freestyle. Duchac led all Purdue swimmers with a fourth-place mark of 25.71, and was followed by Hentschel (10th - 25.96) and Seleskie (14th-26.29). The Boilermakers success in the freestyle extended to the 400 freestyle, as well, where Erica Chandler placed sixth with a lifetime best of 4:17.09.
Duchac's NCAA 'B' time in the 50 free, when converted to short course yards, broke her previous varsity record of 23.05, which she recorded last season. Seleskie's and Hentschel's marks also are NCAA 'B' marks.
Jenni Bean picked up an eighth-place showing in the 200 individual medley, finishing with an NCAA 'B' time of 2:18.11. The IM competition was dominated by the Aggie and Bruin swimmers, which collected five of the top eight spots.
Off the diving boards, Purdue collected top-eight finishes from Carrie McCambridge and Amanda Miller. McCambridge, coming in on a four-meet undefeated streak, took fourth with a score of 463.15, while Miller placed seventh with a mark of 415.95.
"One of our goals for this meet was to have as many swimmers and divers finish in the top eight, and were able to accomplish this today," said Wright Eger. "I was especially happy seeing two divers finish in the top eight, since we've never been able to accomplish that goal at this meet."