Dive-by-Dive Scoring: Friday | Saturday
ROSEMONT, Ill. -- Purdue swimming and diving's Mary Beth Dunnichay and Steele Johnson have been recognized for their multiple event victories during the season-opening weekend by being selected as the Big Ten Divers of the Week.
Dunnichay was a perfect 4-for-4, sweeping the springboard events in the dual meet victory against Miami (Ohio) as well as the Indiana Intercollegiates. Johnson only competed on 3-meter during his first weekend of college action, but managed to score over 400 points while winning the event both Friday and Saturday.
Johnson was also named the Big Ten men's Freshman of the Week Tuesday. With his winning list score of 422.40 Friday vs. Miami, he has already moved into fourth place in program history.
The men's divers had at least the top four finishers in all four diving events over the weekend. They compiled a 32-6 lead against Miami that will carry over to swimming portion of the dual meet, set for Oct. 30 in Oxford.
Dunnichay posted narrow margins of victory by an average of 6.33 points over teammate MacKenzie Tweardy, traditionally a platform specialist, in three of the four springboard events over the weekend. Dunnichay's top list score of the quartet was 343.58 on 3-meter Friday vs. Miami, a mark that was only two points shy of her top score as a Boilermaker from the Big Ten Championships last season. The 2008 Olympian finished the 2014 season strong with a pair of third-place finishes in the championship finals of the springboard events at Big Tens.
Johnson, meanwhile, is one of the most accomplished newcomers to join the program in recent seasons. He is a six-time senior national champion with USA Diving and medaled three times in international competition this year, highlighted by a synchronized 10-meter bronze with David Boudia at the FINA Diving World Cup in China.
Only Jamie Bissett (398.65) was able to keep pace with Johnson in Saturday's springboard competition. The freshman won Friday by over 50 points. Bissett won on 1-meter Friday and Saturday of the season-opening weekend.
Dunnichay and Johnson join Bissett (three-time honoree) and Alec Back as active Boilers to win Big Ten Diver of the Week honors. Guillermo Blanco, Filip Bujoczek, Danny Conway, Meagan Lim and Bissett are their teammates that have also garnered Freshman of the Week during their careers.
The Purdue divers will be back in action Friday for a triple dual meet with Cincinnati and Ohio State in Columbus. The women's swimmers are scheduled to compete. The Purdue divers are also scheduled to compete in Columbus this year for the Ohio State Invitational (Nov. 21-23), USA Diving Winter Nationals (Dec. 16-21), women's Big Ten Championships (Feb. 18-21) and Zone C Diving Championships (March 12-14).
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