Feb. 21, 2004
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Three days. Three competitions. Three victories.
Sophomore Carrie McCambridge made Purdue diving history Saturday night at the Big Ten Championships, winning the platform competition with a score of 413.50. She is the first Boilermaker swimmer or diver ever to win three events at a single conference championship meet.
McCambridge won the 1-meter title Thursday with a pool-record mark of 321.80, and on Friday won the 3-meter discipline with a score of 544.35.
McCambridge also is the first Boilermaker swimmer or diver to win three career Big Ten titles. Maureen Fahey, Jayne Kramer, Mary Street, Sally Johnson, Darlene Warta and Kim Fritsch all won two during their illustrious careers.
Since the platform diving competition became part of the championship format in 1988, only three divers have successfully completed the sweep: McCambridge in 2004, Indiana's Sara Reiling in 2003 and Michigan's Mary Fischbach in 1988.
McCambridge was selected as the Big Ten's Diver of Year and Diver of the Championships for her accomplishment; her mentor, Wenbo Chen, was named Diving Coach of the Year. They are the first Boilermakers to win any postseason conference honor since 1990, when head coach Cathy Wright-Eger was tabbed Swimming Coach of the Year.
"I'm so overwhelmed right now, I'm on cloud nine," said McCambridge, "Going into the final round of the last day, I just wanted to stay relaxed and have fun."
"She dove straight into the water on almost every dive, so I'm very proud of her," said Chen. "Carrie showed great consistency and confidence throughout the championships, but I'm surprised she won the platform. She competed a lot this week, with all the preliminary and semifinal rounds to go through, so going into tonight's finals I told her that she's done a great job and I'm already happy with her performance."
"Wenbo has meant tons to me," said McCambridge. "He pushes me so hard in practice every day, that half the time I love him and the other half I hate him. But all that hard work paid off."
Rookie Amanda Miller also was very productive in all three diving events, scoring in each competition. Miller placed ninth off the platform at 336.60, was 13th off the 3-meter (414.80) and 14th off the 1-meter (234.40).
The future looks bright for Purdue swimming, as well. Led by three freshman finalists, the Boilermakers secured sixth place at the Big Ten Championships, scoring 337.5 points.
Aurora Belk, Susan Hentschel, and Carlene Takaki all overcame tremendous odds and opposition to reach the finals of their respective events, making head coach Cathy Wright-Eger quite pleased.
"We set four freshman records during this meet, so I'm greatly encouraged by their progress," said Wright-Eger. "After losing eight seniors, all of whom were Big Ten scorers, I'm thrilled to have finished where we did in the standings. With all but three people returning to this team next season, we have nowhere to go but up."
Michigan won the team title with 604.5 points. The Wolverines were followed by Penn State, Indiana, Wisconsin and host Minnesota.
In the 200 breaststroke, Belk earned her first championship meet points, tying Minnesota's Bridget McCoy for 11th place at 2:17.69. Takaki followed with a ninth-place showing in the 200 butterfly, clocking a personal record of 2:01.82. Her time was faster than those of two swimmers in the 'A' finals, including teammate Autumn Sample, who placed seventh at 2:03.17.
The Boilermakers earned most of their points from its freestyle trio of Katie Seleskie, Susan Hentschel and Christine Leupold. Seleskie, making her first Big Ten 'A' finals appearance, scored a seventh-place time of 50.55 in the 100 free; Hentschel came in ninth at 50.26 and Leupold crossed 15th in 50.81. Hentschel's mark was a lifetime best.
These three, along with junior Tracy Duchac, closed the championships by setting a varsity record in the 400 free relay. Their third-place time of 3:20.83, broke the record set last season by Jenni Bean, Lindsay Lange, Duchac and Kim Paradeise (3:22.12). Erica Chandler started Purdue's night with a 15th-place showing in the 1,650-yard freestyle, recording a season-best time of 16:48.85.
Overall, it was a very successful meet for the Boilermakers. During their four days at Minnesota, the team recorded six varsity records, 16 NCAA 'B' cuts, had eight top-eight finalists and 14 consolation finalists.
The team returns to the Boilermaker Aquatic Center on Feb. 29, for the Boiler-Make-It Invitational. The last-chance meet starts at 11 a.m.