Nov. 18, 2004
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Riding on the strength of their relay teams and freestyle swimmers, the Boilermakers left North Carolina's Koury Natatorium Thursday night in first place with 355 points.
Trailing No. 20 Purdue after the first day of competition were the 15th-ranked Tar Heels (214.5 points), followed by Virginia Tech (178.5), Kansas (161), Clemson (144), East Carolina (82), Syracuse (57) and Florida International (0).
"We're very pleased to have swam this well, considering we haven't received much rest," said head coach Cathy Wright-Eger. "Our freshmen act like veterans in that they warm up properly and develop an impressive race strategy. They should be proud of the way they competed."
A meet official told Wright-Eger and her Boilermakers that they, "came to swim fast." And they did - recording dozens of personal and season bests along with a handful of NCAA provisional cuts.
The Boilermaker relays were responsible for most of the damage, scoring 212 points. All four of Purdue's relays in both the 200 freestyle and 400 medley finished among the top 12.
Purdue's victorious 200 free relay of Tracy Duchac, Christine Leupold, Kimbre Vogel and Susan Hentschel recorded a season and NCAA-best time of 1:31.85 seconds, beating the field by almost three seconds. Their previous season best of 1:33.25 was recorded Nov. 5 at the Boilermaker Challenge.
Purdue's `B' and `C' relays were almost as impressive, taking sixth and seventh. Both those relays defeated every second and third-tier relay, as well as Syracuse and East Carolina's 'A' relays. Purdue's `D' relay came in 12th, beating nine other teams.
Purdue scored even higher in the 400 medley relay, claiming first, fourth, seventh and ninth place. The Boilermaker `A' team of Jenae Gill, Jennifer Lavers, Carlene Takaki and Hentschel was victorious with its season-best mark of 3:47.87.
In addition to its relay dominance, the Old Gold and Black controlled the 50 freestyle from top to bottom, as all eight swimmers scored at least one point. Leupold, Duchac and Vogel were the team's top finishers, taking third through fifth places.
Leupold completed the sprint with a lifetime best of 23.11, while Duchac (23.20) and Vogel (23.42) posted season bests. All three swam under the NCAA provisional standard of 23.56.
Before racing the 50 free, Leupold posted a career best and NCAA provisional mark of 2:03.61 in the 200 individual medley, which was good for second place. Purdue's Jennifer Merte, Rory Belk and Erica Chandler also scored in this event, placing sixth, 10th and 14th.
Yvonne Laaper and Katharine Telfer registered two of the team's biggest improvements. Laaper finished fifth in the 500 free finals after cutting four seconds off her prelim time (4:58.53 to 4:54.30). Telfer shaved off two seconds and finished 15th at 4:57.63.
Hentschel placed third in the 500 free's super final, completing the course in 4:54.95. Her prelim of 4:54.08 just missed the NCAA `B' standard by .06 seconds.
Wright-Eger said Friday's races won't be as easy as Thursday's, but she sees a few events where she knows they'll be strong.
"We'll be competing in several 100-yard stroke races, events where we just don't possess enough depth," said Wright-Eger. "However we're stacked in the 200 free and the 400 IM, and I know we'll be competitive in the 200 medley and 800 free relays. I don't expect anyone will back down from the challenges ahead."