Feb. 28, 2004
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Buoyed by its second individual champion and a pair of quality diving performances, the Purdue men's swimming and diving team placed sixth at the 86th Big Ten Championships, held at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center.
The sixth-place showing by head coach Dan Ross' squad marks its best since finishing sixth in 1998. The Boilermakers amassed 337 points, up from 289 (seventh place) last year.
Sophomore Giordan Pogioli won the 200 breaststroke, edging Kevin Swander of Northwestern 1:56.13 to 1:56.46 and setting a Holloway Pool record in the process. Both marks are NCAA 'A' cuts. Pogioli became the first Boilermaker to win the 200 breaststroke stroke since Vilmos Kovacs dominated the event from 1996 to 1998 and the fourth overall. Purdue Hall of Famer Keith Carter was victorious in 1948 and 1949, followed by Robert Dunlop in 1950. The Big Ten has been swimming the event since 1914.
Pogioli's win was followed by second- and third-place showings in the platform diving event by junior Josh Karshen and sophomore John Hillis. Karshen scored 511.60 and Hillis 432.25, as both recorded season bests. Michigan's Jason Coben was the champion with a pool-record 535.45.
Heading into the final event of the meet - the 400 freestyle relay - the Boilermakers held a 5 1/2-point advantage over Wisconsin for fifth place, but the Badgers placed second in 2:54.05 while Purdue was seventh in 2:59.28.
Minnesota won its third conference crown in the last four years, beating Michigan 712.5 to 605. Michigan is the only school to interrupt the Golden Gophers' streak, doing so last year.
Minnesota broke open what had been a somewhat close meet in the 100 freestyle, capturing second-, third-, fourth- and sixth-place finishes to rack up 61 points in the event.
Also for Purdue, senior Tamas Bessenyei placed third in the 200 breaststroke with a season-best and NCAA 'B' cut time of 1:58.13.
Junior Louis Paul, who won the 200 individual medley relay on Friday, placed third in the 200 backstroke with a personal-best time of 1:44.03, good enough for an NCAA 'B' cut. He was the defending meet champion in the event, but was supplanted by Michigan's Chris DeJong, who set Big Ten and conference meet records with a time of 1:41.78. Adam Mania of Wisconsin touched second in 1:43.31.
In the 1650 freestyle, senior Garth Bringman and junior Steuart Martens placed 12th and 13th with season-best times of 15:40.11 and 15:40.13.
With their championships, Paul and Pagioli earned first team all-conference honors, while Karshen garnered second team recognition.
2004 Big Ten Men's Swimming and Diving Final Standings
Minnesota, 712.5
Michigan, 605
Northwestern, 478
Indiana, 452.5
Wisconsin, 341.5
PURDUE, 337
Penn State, 299.5
Ohio State, 250
Iowa, 204
Michigan State, 126
BIG TEN SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
DAY THREE NOTES
- Michigan's Peter Vanderkaay won the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 14:48.66, setting a new pool record and making him automatically eligible to compete in the NCAA Championships in the process. Michigan has now won the event in 11 of the past 12 years (since 1993). With the win, Vanderkaay became only the sixth Wolverine to win three events in one meet. Vanderkaay also finished first in the 500-yard freestyle and the 400-yard IM.
- Chris DeJong of Michigan won the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:41.78, setting both Big Ten conference and meet records. The previous mark of 1:42.24 was set by Michigan's Derya Buyukuncu in 1998. DeJong and Wisconsin's Adam Mania qualified for the NCAA Championships, meeting the required time of 1:44.02.
- Northwestern's Matt Grevers paced the 100-yard freestyle with a mark of 43.14, setting a new pool record in the process. Grevers and Minnesota's Terry Silkaitis both met the NCAA required time of 43:53 to automatically compete in the NCAA Championships.
- Purdue's Giordan Pogioli won the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:56.13. Pogioli's time set a new pool record and met the NCAA standard time of 1:57.35 to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Indiana's Kevin Swander also qualified for the NCAA Championships with a 1:56.46 mark. Purdue last won the event in 1998 (Vilmos Kovacs). Pogioli became the second Boilermaker to win an event in this year's meet, joining 200-yard IM champion Louis Paul.
- Michigan's Davis Tarwater broke the all-time Big Ten record in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:43.54, breaking the Wolverines own 200-yard butterfly Olympic gold-medalist Tom Malchow's previous record of 1:43.58. Malchow, who won the gold medal in the event in the 2000 Olympics, was in attendance to watch his record set in 1999 fall to his fellow Wolverine. Tarwater and Indiana's Murph Halasz met the NCAA time of 1:44.93 to automatically become eligible to compete in this year's NCAA Championships.
- Michigan's Jason Coben won the platform diving event with a score of 540.45. Coben has won the event three years in a row and both times since it has become a scoring event (2003-2004). Coben's mark of 540.45 set a new pool record.
- Minnesota's foursome of Mario Delac, Terry Silkaitis, Neil Osten and Igor Cerensek set an all-time Big Ten record in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 2:51.65, besting Penn State's previous record of 2:53.68 set in 2002 by over two seconds. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Northwestern all met the NCAA time of 2:55.06 and are automatically eligible to compete in the NCAA Championships.
Big Ten Honors
Co-Swimmers of the Year: Peter Vanderkaay of Michigan and Matt Grevers of Northwestern
Swimming Coach of the Year: Jon Urbanchek of Michigan
Swimmer of the Championships: Kevin Swander of Indiana
Swimming or Diving Freshman of the Year: Matt Grevers of Northwestern
Diver of the Year: Mitch Richeson of Ohio State
Diving Coach of the Year: Vince Panzano of Ohio State
Diver of the Championships: Jason Coben of Michigan
ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS
First Team All-Big Ten
Indiana: Murph Halasz, Matt Leach, Kevin Swander,Claes Andersson
Michigan: Jason Coben, Chris DeJong, Anderw Hurd, Dan Ketchum,
Davis Tarwater, Peter Vanderkaay
Minnesota: Igor Cerensek, Mario Delac, Neil Osten, Tery Silkaitis, Ales Volcansek
Northwestern: Mike Alexandrov, Mark Hamming, Tony Swanson
Ohio State: Mitch Richeson
Purdue: Louis Paul and Giordan Pogioli
Second Team All-Big Ten
Indiana: Mike Payne, Colin Russell, Kyle Ruth
Iowa: Timo Klami
Michigan: Christian Vanderkaay
Minnesota: Sean McCaffrey and Adam Mitchell
Purdue: Josh Karshen
Wisconsin: Adam Mania, Matt Marshall, Dale Rogers, Eric Wiesner, Kevin Zakrzewski
WINNERS' QUOTES
Dan Kethcum, Michigan,(800-yard freestyle relay)
On leading his team to a relay victory ... "We were thrilled to death about our win. We wanted to come in and break the pool record. The guys back in the day used to talk about coming in and accomplishing this feat; we're really excited to have done that, and get a big win for our team."
Peter Vanderkaay, Michigan (1,650-yard freestyle)
On his victory... "It was so good, but I lost my cap halfway through. That tends to happen to me a lot, so I get used to it. I wanted to go out there and try to cruise, but I had to save some energy because I have another relay later tonight."
Chris DeJong, Michigan (200-yard backstroke)
On defeating 200-back defending champion, Louis Paul of Purdue... "I was pretty surprised by it. Louis Paul defeated me last year, so it motivated me to come back and get the victory this year. It was a lot of fun, and a great race."
On the team's chances of continuing to win after winning the last three events... "I don't know if we can win the team title; but we're going to swim like Michigan men, and put our heart and soul in it."
Matt Grevers, Northwestern (100-yard freestyle)
On his wins during the championships... "It was awesome. I can't say that I was expecting it, it's been unbelievable. It's been a goal of mine since the beginning of the season, and it became even more of a priority once I realized how important this meet was to our team."
On winning at the conference meet as a freshman ... "I think I'm the same as anyone else. We're at the college level, and our bodies have matured the same. It's a lot better competing in college in comparison to the high school level, it's a big difference freshmen competing against seniors. The difference between fourteen and eighteen year olds is huge. Here, our bodies are basically the same."
Giordan Pogioli, Purdue (200-yard breastroke)
On his victory in front of the home crowd... "It's amazing. We've been talking about this all year. Just being here the past couple weeks, it's become more and more of an obstacle to tackle. It's been hard thinking about it. I couldn't sleep last night thinking about the race. I'm glad it ended the way I wanted it to, and I'm proud of our team."
Davis Tarwater, Michigan (200-yard butterfly)
On setting the meet, conference and pool records... "Big Ten has a history of great flyers. It's a tremendous honor to be considered one of them."
Jason Coben, Michigan (Platform diving)
On winning both the 1-meter and platform dive competitions... "After my performance yesterday, I knew that I had to come out and do better today, and that was my biggest motivation. I feel very honored to win both competitions."
Terry Silkaitis, Minnesota (400-yard freestyle relay)
On Minnesota's championship and setting the Big Ten 400-free relay record... "There's no better way to go out than winning the last race."
On multiple relay wins... "Basically, Minnesota's relays are unstoppable in the Big Ten. However, we'll see what happens in the NCAA's."