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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- No. 21 Purdue women's swimming and diving begins the championship portion of its season this week, returning to Columbus for the third time as a full team this season for the four-day, seven-session Big Ten Conference Championships beginning Wednesday evening.
Action at OSU's McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion begins Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. with the 200 medley and 800 free relays. Preliminary rounds are set for the afternoon sessions and begin at 11 a.m. Relays are contested, Big Ten Champions determined and team points earned in the evening finals, which begin nightly at 6:30 p.m.
The Big Ten Network will televise highlights of the Saturday evening session Sunday, Feb. 22 at 9 a.m. ET. Saturday night's session will be live on BTN2Go as well. BTN Plus on BTN2Go will also be offering live pay-per-view coverage of the first five sessions from Wednesday through Friday evening.
The Big Ten is always one of the top swimming and diving conferences in the country and this season is no exception. Now a 13-team field with the addition of Rutgers, this year's conference championship meet will feature six teams ranked among the CSCAA Top 25 -- No. 14 Minnesota, No. 15 Indiana, No. 17 Michigan, No. 21 Purdue, No. 22 Ohio State and No. 24 Wisconsin. Penn State is also receiving votes. The Boilermakers went head-to-head against Minnesota, Indiana and Ohio State as well as Michigan State and Northwestern in dual meet action this season.
Minnesota is the three-time defending Big Ten champion, capitalizing on the opportunity to host the meet each of the last two years. Since finishing a program-best fourth as the meet host in 2010, the Boilermakers' best finish has been fifth in 2011 and 2013. Only 40 points separated fourth-place Ohio State and seventh-place Purdue last season. The Boilers could have realistically finished fifth a year ago had they not had a false start on the 200 medley relay to open the meet Wednesday evening.
Michigan is set to host the Women's Big Ten Championships next season followed by Purdue in February 2017.
Gallagher, Tweardy, Marshall, Todd, Regan, Vogel & Sheets discuss what they're looking forward to at Big Tens
Casey Matthews' victory in 1-meter diving at the conference championship meet last year was the Boilers' first Big Ten title since 2009. Matthews was named the Big Ten co-Diver of the Championships and Adam Soldati was selected the Big Ten Diving Coach of the Year. Carlene Takaki's 200 butterfly championship in 2006 was the program's last swimming title.
Dating back to 2010, Purdue has had 36 record-breaking performances at the Big Ten Championships. Current Boilermakers Emily Fogle (100 and 200 breast, 200 IM), Francesca Marr (400 IM) and Alex Todd (100 fly) have all established new individual program records at Big Tens that still stand.
Senior Rhiannon Sheets enters her final Big Tens as Purdue's active career individual scoring leader at the conference championship meet. She has scored 20-plus points in individual events each year for a career total of 81.5. MacKenzie Tweardy has scored in all three diving each of the last two seasons. She was the team's top individual scorer in 2013 (36 points), ranked second last year (33) and has earned 75 points for the Boilers in her career.
Meanwhile, Fogle is set for her first conference championship meet since her record-setting week at the 2012 Big Tens in Iowa City. As a sophomore, she established new Purdue records in the 100 and 200 breaststroke as well as the 200 IM. She also swam the breaststroke leg on the 200 and 400 medley relay teams that set program records that still stand. Kylie Vogel (200) and Sheets (400) swam the butterfly legs on those relay teams.
Fogle has missed Big Tens the last two seasons due to injuries. But the two-time NCAA Championships qualifier posted Purdue's top times of the season in the 100 and 200 breaststroke while winning both events at the Ohio State Invitational in November. She accounted for 48 team points at Big Tens as a sophomore in 2012 and 76 points for her career to rank second among active Boilers despite competing in one less conference championship meet than most of the current seniors.
Abby Jagdfeld and Kaersten Meitz have been the Boilers' top freshman performers this season and could be poised for breakout weeks. Jagdfeld has already established new Purdue freshman records in the 100 and 200 freestyle while winning the events at the Ohio State Invitational. With 64 points, she was the top individual scorer as Purdue won a multi-day invitational meet on the road for the first time since November 2004 at North Carolina.
Meitz already ranks second in program history in the 1000 free as well as fourth in the mile. She'll team with Nika Karlina Petric and Allie Davis to give the Boilers a strong trio in the distance freestyle events. Both juniors have scored at Big Tens and qualified for the NCAA Championships with the Purdue's relay teams each of their first two years.
Diver Mary Beth Dunnichay enjoyed her best meet as a Boilermaker at Big Tens last season. The 2008 Olympian placed third in both springboard diving events to account for 32 team points. She is a three-time Big Ten Diver of the Week award winner this season.
While selected Purdue swimmers and relay teams will essentially clinch berths at the NCAA Championships this week, the divers will have to earn their spots at the national championship meet next month by qualifying at the NCAA Zone Championships. The Boilermakers will compete in the Zone C meet the weekend of March 12-14 in Columbus. Along with the Oct. 24 triple dual with Ohio State and Cincinnati in Columbus as well as the OSU Invitational, the divers also competed at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion for the USA Diving Winter Nationals in December.
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