Nov. 20, 2004
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - No. 20 Purdue is coming home as Nike Cup Champions after registering another day of dominating performances. Even without their divers, the Boilermakers still scored 950.5 points at the three-day meet on the strength of their relays and freestyle events.
Host and 16th-ranked North Carolina finished a disappointing second with 804 points, and were followed by Kansas (614), Virginia Tech (599), Clemson (458), East Carolina (292), Syracuse (209.5) and Florida International (3).
"We didn't even talk about winning this meet, so it's a big surprise that we won and an even bigger surprise that we won by so much," said head coach Cathy Wright-Eger. "All we wanted to do was reach the super finals, have all our relays score, and give our freshmen the experience of competing at a large meet."
Wright-Eger added that her team always took care of little things, which would help them perform better.
"They continually warmed up and warmed down, stayed hydrated, and basically made sure they took care of themselves," said Wright-Eger. "The pool was tough to breathe in, which was not fun for our asthma sufferers, but no one panicked; they all remained focused on competing."
All the Boilermakers had their moments of glory this weekend, but Wright-Eger said Christine Leupold, Susan Hentschel, Jennifer Lavers and Carlene Takaki really stood out above the rest.
Team captain Leupold had the best weekend, reaching the super finals in four events (200 individual medley, 50, 100 and 200 freestyle), and scoring with all but one relay.
In her final session of competition Saturday night, Leupold was the runner-up in the 100 free with a 50.17 and led the 400 free relay team to a first-place time of 3:22.75. Both of Leupold's marks were below the NCAA provisional standards.
Leupold was joined on the championship relay by Hentschel, Tracy Duchac and Katie Seleskie. Hentschel also posted an NCAA `B' mark in the 100 free, finishing third at 50.28. Overall, Purdue had five people score in the 100 free, including Duchac, Seleskie and Kimbre Vogel.
Lavers, a super finalist in both breaststroke races, broke a few records with her fourth-place finish in the 200 breast. The freshman's NCAA `B' time of 2:17.46 was a personal best and beat Rory Belk's freshman record of 2:17.56 set at last season's Big Ten Championships.
Wright-Eger was especially pleased with Lavers' mark since it was over a full second faster than her prelim of 2:18.52.
Takaki, a super finalist in the 100 fly, produced a second-place showing in the 200 fly with an NCAA `B' mark of 2:00.51, which also is a personal record.
Purdue began its quest for the Nike Cup with Yvonne Laaper and Erica Chandler taking third and seventh in the 1,650 free. Laaper swam a lifetime best of 16:55.20 and Chandler completed the course in 17:05.19. Wright-Eger was proud of the way Chandler competed over the final two days, after getting off to a tough start Thursday.
Katharine Telfer, Brandy Keever and Jenae Gill all scored in the 200 back, as Telfer placed fourth at 2:04.34. Keever and Gill finished 13th and 15th, but both experienced a significant drops from their prelim times. Keever went from 2:07.15 to 2:04.51 and Gill went from 2:08.27 to 2:05.31.
Purdue showed some depth in the 200 breast, with freshman Shannon Grace and Belk both scoring in addition to Lavers. Grace placed 7th with a personal record of 2:20.47 and Belk came in 11th at 2:22.30.
Wright-Eger credited their relay depth for the team's success, and in the 400 free relay it was no different as the `B' relay placed fourth and the `C' team was seventh. The `B' squad, which featured two freshmen (Jenae Gill and Lauren Willis) and two sophomores (Rachel Sitarz and Vogel), beat the `A' relays of Clemson, Virginia Tech, Syracuse and East Carolina.
The Boilermakers are off from competition until the start of the new year. The swimmers won't compete until Jan. 8 when they visit the Florida Atlantic Invitational; however, the divers will be present at the Georgia Invitational, beginning Jan. 3.