Jan. 8, 2006
IRVINE, Calif. - Purdue's 14th-ranked swimming team won a pair of invitationals Saturday at UC-Irvine. The Boilermakers first outscored the nine-team sprint field by 410 points, then beat the eight-team distance group by 138 points.
Purdue scored 794 points in Saturday morning's sprint meet, and were followed by UC-Irvine (384) and UNLV (317). The remainder of the field all scored less than 200 points.
The Boilermakers' winning total in the distance invitational was 234 points. Again the anteaters of UC-Irvine were second with 96 points, and the University of Toledo was third with 90 points.
"This was a good meet to end our training camp with," said head coach Cathy Wright-Eger. "We were outside through weather that was cold then hot then cold, so I thought the team displayed great mental toughness and competitiveness."
Senior Erica Chandler kick started Purdue's morning meet with a victory in the 200 freestyle, touching the wall in 1:51.67. She also finished as the runner-up in the 100 free and 200 individual medley.
Purdue quickly pulled away from the pack after sweeping the top three places in the 100 breaststroke and claiming five of the top seven spots in the 200 butterfly.
In the 100 breast, junior Rory Belk led Jennifer Lavers and Shannon Grace to the finish line with her mark of 1:04.89. Lavers touched in 1:05.76 and Grace's time was clocked at 1:05.88.
Belk went on to place second in the 200 breast with a mark of 2:17.78, which is one of the best times of her career.
Carlene Takaki won the 200 fly in 2:02.57, placed third in the 100 fly with a mark of 56.67 and was runner-up in the 50 fly at 25.80. Also winning for Purdue during the sprint session were Jenae Gill in the 50 backstroke (26.98) and Kimbre Vogel in the 50 free (24.08).
Saturday afternoon's distance invitational started similarly as Chandler won the 400 IM in 4:24.54. Following her victory, the Boilermakers swept the top three positions in both the 500 and 1650 freestyle.
Freshman Christine Shehorn won the 500 in 5:04.53 with Susan Hentschel (5:06.67) and Katharine Telfer (5:08.42) coming in second and third.
Newcomer Nicole Weatherman, who is a transfer from Alabama, won the mile with her mark of 17:05.73. Freshman Elyse Dudar was the runner-up in 17:20.40 and sophomore Lauren Hyman was third at 17:27.58.
According to Wright-Eger, Hyman had one of the best meets of her career, posting times that were faster than what she accomplished at the 2004 Big Ten's.
In addition to her mile time, Hyman also posted lifetime bests in the 200 free, 200 and 100 fly and 200 IM.
Purdue returns home Saturday for its home season finale against the Illinois State Redbirds. The meet is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Admission is free.