Feb. 16, 2005
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Purdue's 800 freestyle relay team set a varsity record during the first night of the Big Ten Championships. The squad of Christine Leupold, Erica Chandler, Katharine Telfer and Susan Hentschel finished with an NCAA provisional time of 7:17.99, breaking the previous school record of 7:18.64.
The former record was recorded at last year's conference championship meet by Leupold, Jenni Bean, Chandler and Hentschel.
Head coach Cathy Wright-Eger was proud of everyone's split times, especially Hentschel's anchor mark of 1:47.57. The sophomore's 200 free split was second only to Wisconsin's Carly Piper (1:47.34), and propelled the Boilermakers past Indiana into fourth place during the final laps.
"I thought we had a really good night," said Wright-Eger. "All of the opening-night jitters are out of the way, and we'll be ready to go again tomorrow."
Michigan won the 800 free relay in 7:09.42, and were followed by Wisconsin (7:11.93) and Penn State (7:16.23).
Purdue began its championship run with a sixth-place showing in the 200 medley relay, posting a season-best time of 1:43.16. Freshmen Jenae Gill (26.15) and Jennifer Lavers (29.26) posted lifetime bests with their backstroke and breaststroke splits. Christine Leupold and Tracy Duchac swam the butterfly and freestyle legs.
The Boilermakers are in fifth place with 56 points after the first night of competition at Indiana. Michigan leads the field with 73 points, but Penn State is close behind with 72 points. Wisconsin is third with 67 points, while Indiana leads Purdue for fourth place with 58 points.
Minnesota (50), Iowa (42), Illinois (38), Northwestern (36), Ohio State (34) and Michigan State (34) round out the 11-team field.
The second day of competition starts Thursday at 11 a.m. Live results can be accessed here.