Live Results at Notre Dame Saturday: | Diving Scores
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Purdue men's swimming and diving hits the road over the extended Halloween weekend for dual meets against annual non-conference rivals Miami (Ohio) and Notre Dame.
Thursday's swimming only action against Miami begins at 7 p.m. at the Nixon Aquatic Center in Oxford. The Boilermakers will then travel north for Saturday's 1 p.m. co-ed dual with Notre Dame at the Rolfs Aquatic Center in South Bend.
Purdue will carry a 32-6 lead into Thursday's dual at Miami after the divers dominated the springboard events contested in conjunction with the women's dual Oct. 17 at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center. Jamie Bissett (1-meter) and Steele Johnson (3-meter) were victorious that night. Johnson was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week again Tuesday of this week after his 3-meter victory in the triple dual with Ohio State and Cincinnati Oct. 24.
Saturday, the Boilers will be in search of their first victory in South Bend since November 2010. However, Purdue has won six of the last seven duals with the Fighting Irish dating back to the fall of 2007.
Senior co-captain Manuel Gutierrez (Cincinnati) and Josh Brooks (Centerville) return to their home state Thursday. With Gutierrez hailing from the northeast side of Cincinnati and Brooks the south suburbs of Dayton, Oxford is nearly equidistant from both Boilers' hometowns.
Saturday will be a Homecoming of sorts for Purdue's five Northern Indiana natives, including South Bend-area products Chris Bals (South Bend/St. Joseph) and Hudson Bursch (Granger/Penn). Alec Back (Portage), Adam Johnston (Highland) and Matt Quinlan (Michigan City) are all natives of Northwest Indiana.
This week will mark the eighth time since the start of the 2006-07 season that the Boilers have competed in two different pools over a 48-hour span. Notre Dame or the Big Ten's Michigan universities have been a common element in the last seven occasions. However, a dual meet at Northwestern was paired with the biennial meet at Notre Dame in the fall of the even-numbered years since November 2006. But this year Northwestern joined the Big Ten Triple Duals field, pushing the annual meet with the Wildcats to late January.
Nevertheless, a chance to compete in two different pools less than 48 hours apart presents a different challenge than most road trips. The itinerary calls for Purdue to travel to Oxford Thursday afternoon, stay over in southwest Ohio after the meet, bus up to South Bend Friday and compete Saturday before returning home. Head coach Dan Ross also unveiled the first travel roster of the season this week.
The Boilermakers have competed against Miami in dual meet action in each of the last seven seasons dating back to 2007-08. The Miami dual has been an annual home-and-home part of the schedule along with other regular head-to-head opponents like Notre Dame, Michigan State and Indiana. The RedHawks were also a regular dual meet opponent for Purdue throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Ross and Miami's Pete Lindsay -- in their 30th and 31st seasons, respectively -- are among the longest-tenured college head coaches in the Midwest.
Longtime Notre Dame assistant/associate head coach Matt Tallman took over as the head coach this summer, replacing Tim Welsh as the leader of the program after nearly 30 years. Wallman is only the Irish's third head coach in the program's 56-year history.
Danny Conway won events in both Miami and Notre Dame's home pools as a freshman in the fall of 2012. Guillermo Blanco, Jan Karel Petric, Nate Hopkins, Stephen Seliskar, Evan Barta, Lyam Dias also won events in Oxford in 2012. Dias swam on both relay winners and Gutierrez was also part of the 800 free relay win.
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Purdue Competed in Two Different Pools in 48-Hour Span (Since Nov. 2006)
Jan. 11-12, 2013 - at Michigan State & Michigan (Split)
Nov. 2-3, 2012 - at Notre Dame & Northwestern (Split)
Jan. 14-16, 2011 - at Michigan State, Classic @ SMU & Michigan (Split Duals)
Nov. 5-6, 2010 - at Northwestern & Notre Dame (Won Both)
Nov. 7-8, 2008 - at Northwestern & Notre Dame (Won Both)
Nov. 12-13, 2007 - at Michigan & Michigan State (Split)
Nov. 3-4, 2006 - at Notre Dame & Northwestern (Lost Both)
Active Boilers to Win Events at Miami's Pool
Guillermo Blanco, 200 Free & 200 IM
Jan Karel Petric, 500 Free
Nate Hopkins, 1000 Free
Stephen Seliskar, 100 Back & 100 Fly
Evan Barta, 200 Back
Lyam Dias, 100 & 200 Breast
Danny Conway, 200 Fly
Active Boilers to Win Events at Notre Dame's Pool
Danny Conway, 400 IM
Jamie Bissett, 3-Meter Diving