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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Purdue men's swimming and diving hosts new opponent Western Kentucky Friday at 5 p.m. for the final home meet of the fall semester at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center.
The Boilermakers opened their dual meet season last week with road wins at Miami (Ohio) and Notre Dame, winning in two different pools in less than 48 hours. Senior Guillermo Blanco won a pair of events at both duals. With five individual victories for the season, he now shares the team lead with Jamie Bissett and Stephen Seliskar.
New team season-best times were posted in eight individual events and the 400 free relay in the Nov. 1 win at Notre Dame. The strong showings came at the perfect time as many of the races were decidedly close and the team scoring was still up in the air entering the final three events. Victories by Seliskar (100 fly), Blanco (200 IM) and the 400 free relay team of Josh Ehrman, Hudson Bursch, Nate Thomas and Seliskar clinched the team win.
Purdue head coach Dan Ross said he believed the last time the Boilers competed against Western Kentucky was at Southern Illinois' Saluki Invitational in the early 1980s. Purdue used that meet as a regular late-season tune-up for the Big Ten Championships, competing in Carbondale annually from 1979 through 1985. Ross would have been part of the Boilers' active roster in 1979 and 1980 and then an assistant coach from 1981-85.
Many of Western Kentucky's teams moved from the Sun Belt Conference to Conference USA this summer, but the WKU women's swim-dive team made its debut at the Conference USA Championships last season. Florida Atlantic, Old Dominion and Western Kentucky are currently the only universities to sponsor men's programs in C-USA.
The Hilltoppers will be competing in the state of Indiana for the second weekend in a row. WKU raced against IUPUI and selected members of Indiana's team Nov. 1 in Indianapolis, posting a 197-100 dual win against the Jaguars. The Hilltoppers won 10 of the 16 events in the men's half of the co-ed competition. Fabian Schwingenschlogl (100 and 200 breast, 200 IM), Cody Reul (200 and 500 free) and Seth Musser (100 and 200 back) each won multiple events. Musser's brother (Jesse) and sister (Hannah) also currently swim for WKU.
Western Kentucky's roster also features natives of Central Indiana (Tommy Verbrugge, Noblesville) and Central Illinois (Brennan Elsas, Lincoln).
Purdue and Western Kentucky are both gearing their fall training towards upcoming invitationals. Although the Purdue divers will be competing at the Ohio State Invitational along with women the same weekend, the Boilers are planning on traveling their entire swimming roster to Minneapolis for the Minnesota Grand Prix two weeks from now. That same weekend (Nov. 21-23) Western Kentucky will be competing at the UofL Invite in Louisville.
Following Friday's action, Purdue won't resume its dual schedule until Jan. 9-10 with a co-ed meet against Michigan State.
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