March 2, 2008
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - There were no varsity records broken nor any NCAA automatic qualifying marks posted, but women's swimming head coach Cathy Wright-Eger believes her team got a lot out of this weekend's Boiler-Make-It Last Chance meet.
"I thought we played host to a pretty successful meet," she said. "I thought it was valuable for some of our younger swimmers to gain more confidence swimming long-course meters."
The meet, which was spread over two days, featured short-course yardage swims in the morning and long-course meter events in the afternoons.
Wright-Eger said it was important to add in the LCM races not only for the younger swimmers, but for established veterans such as Jennifer Lavers, who is going to this summer's Olympic Trials in Omaha, Neb.
Lavers won both the 100 and 200-meter breaststroke races this weekend with times of 1:13.42 and 2:38.98.
"Jen had a real good meet," Wright-Eger said. "Her breaststroke times were the second fastest of her career, which is great considering she and everyone else were reaching the end of their taper. We have to make sure she's ready for Olympic Trials, which will be her next meet."
Other notable performances from this weekend included freshman Jessica Davis placing second in the 100-yard breast with a lifetime best of 1:04.32. She completed the same course in meters in 1:15.03.
Sophomore Christine Inman registered a personal record of 2:03.39 in winning the 200 butterfly.
Purdue still has to play the waiting game to see if any of their swimmers will be invited to the NCAA championships in two weeks. Lavers, senior Nicole Weatherman and freshman Allie Smith are just three of the handful of Boilermakers who have combined to post 14 NCAA provisional cuts this season.
Purdue's divers qualify for NCAA's through a regional zone meet, which takes place in Ann Arbor, Mich., on the weekend of March 14-16.