Jan. 5, 2006
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - To help shake up their team's winter training regimens, Purdue head coach Cathy Wright-Eger and UCLA's Cyndi Gallagher decided to cancel Thursday's dual meet - sort of.
The two teams still competed but not as the 14th-ranked Boilermakers or seventh-ranked Bruins. Instead, the head coaches combined the talents of both schools to form a pair of Intrasquad teams (black and blue).
"Our aim was to do something different," said Wright-Eger. "We wanted to keep up the work load while mixing in some fun."
The meet was decided on the afternoon's final race, the 650-yard freestyle relay, in which each competitor sprinted 25 yards. The Black Team, coached by Wright-Eger and Bruin assistant Erika Hansen won the meet 129.5 to 115.5, over the Blue Team, which was led by Gallagher and Purdue assistant Darlene Renie.
Purdue swimmers won six of 12 individual events, with Jenae Gill and Carlene Takaki both winning two races each. Gill won the 100 backstroke and 50 free with times of 57.82 and 24.03, while Takaki swept the butterfly events with marks of 57.27 and 2:03.69.
Also winning for the Boilermakers were Erica Chandler, taking the 1,000 free title in 10:02.12, and Jennifer Lavers, who won the 100 breaststroke in 1:06.21.
Gill and Lavers began the meet swimming the first two legs of the winning 200 medley relay. Their relay, which won in 1:46.79, was rounded out by UCLA's Amy Thurman and teammate Shannon Grace.
Wright-Eger also was very impressed with performances from Nicole Weatherman (4th, 1000 free); Lauren Willis (5th, 200 free); Kimbre Vogel (4th, 50 free and 100 back); Susan Hentschel (2nd, 100 free) and Lauren Hyman, who posted a personal record in the 200 fly of 2:06.02.
The team concludes its California adventure this weekend at the UC-Irvine Invitationals. The Invitationals are comprised of three separate meets plus a diving invitational. The events start off with a sprints meet at 9:00 a.m. followed by a distance meet Saturday with Sunday featuring a relay meet starting at 10:00 a.m. Diving will take place over both days.
Texas Christian, Texas A&M, UNLV, Toledo, Cal Poly, Cal State Northridge, Pepperdine, San Diego State, Cleveland State and Stony Brook are among the teams competing against the Boilermakers.