Feb. 17, 2006
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Boilermakers final goal at the Big Ten Championships is to catch Indiana for fourth place. They have one day and seven events to make it happen.
A fourth place finish at the conference championships would be the program's highest since the 1991-92 season.
The Hoosiers lead the Old Gold and Black by 17 points, 304 - 287, heading into Saturday's final day of competition, and head coach Cathy Wright-Eger is confident her team can reach its objective.
"We're going to give it all we got," said Wright-Eger. "We're strong in the 200 fly and 200 breast, we can score a couple of swimmers in the mile, and the platform is arguably our best all-around event."
Before Purdue set it sights on Indiana, it first had to overtake Wisconsin, which it did Friday night. The Boilermakers were led by Carlene Takaki and Carrie McCambridge, who both finished as the runner-ups in their respective events. Purdue also had three individuals score in the 400 individual medley and 100 breaststroke.
After three days of competition, the Boilermakers are in fifth with 287 points, 43 points ahead of the Badgers. Defending champion Penn State leads Michigan, 372-370, for first place, while Minnesota stands in third with 339 points.
Wright-Eger showered praise on all her swimmers and divers, including Erica Chandler. The team's sportsmanship award winner scored her second-consecutive eighth-place finish of the meet with a time of 4:22.46 in the 400 IM.
"She's two-for-two in the finals, which is great," said Wright-Eger. "She's out there having fun. All she wants to do is score for the team and not worry about times."
Wright-Eger also credited the 400 medley relay for setting the evening's aggressive tone. All four swimmers: Jenae Gill (55.57), Jennifer Lavers (1:03.19), Carlene Takaki (53.98) and Susan Hentschel (49.25) recorded lifetime best splits as the relay placed fifth with a season-best and NCAA consideration time of 3:41.99.
The relay swimmers went on to achieve individual success, as well. Gill was seventh in the 100 back at 56.50; Lavers led the breaststroke trio with her third-place mark of 1:03.22; Takaki was second in the 200 fly with a varsity record time of 54.37 and Hentschel was sixth in the 200 free at 1:48.84.
"Susan was solid today," said Wright-Eger. "She posted two 1:48's, which should give her confidence for tomorrow's 100 free."
McCambridge and Miller were second and sixth off the 3-meter springboard, becoming the only pair of teammates at Big Ten's to score among the top eight in two consecutive nights.
McCambridge's score of 380.50 was a lifetime best and varsity record by almost 20 points, but it was eight points shy of Northwestern's Chelsea Davis' first-place total of 388.10 points. Davis' final four scores were all over 64 points.
Miller finished just .10 points behind IU's Lindsay Weigel for fifth place, 329.50 to 329.40. The Purdue junior had low-scoring attempts on dives three and four, but roared back to score over 65 points on dives five and six.
The Boilermakers resume competition at Big Ten's Saturday morning at 11 a.m. with the prelims of the 200 backstroke. Live results for swimming and diving can be found through ohiostatebuckeyes.com.