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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Ten members of Purdue men's swimming and diving are set to represent the Boilermakers this week at the marquee event of the season, the three-day NCAA Championships back in Iowa City.
Competition is set for Thursday through Saturday at the University of Iowa's Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Natatorium, which also served as the host site of the Big Ten Championships last month. This season marks the fifth time since 2004-05 that a Big Ten aquatic center is serving as the host site of the men's NCAA Championships.
Morning prelims begin at noon ET and the evening finals are set for 8 p.m. ET. There will be live video webcasts for all sessions, with ESPN3 and WatchESPN providing the live coverage Friday and Saturday night. Iowa's All-Access page at HawkeyeSports.com will be offering free live video of the other sessions. ESPNU will televise highlights of the Friday and Saturday finals sessions Wednesday, April 8 at 5 p.m. ET.
Purdue will be represented in the individual events by swimmers Marat Amaltdinov (100 and 200 breast), Guillermo Blanco (200 and 400 IM, 200 fly) and Lyam Dias (100 and 200 breast) as well as divers Jamie Bissett (1-meter, 3-meter and platform), Nate Cox (platform), Steele Johnson (1-meter, 3-meter and platform) and Sean Mokhtari (platform). Austin Flager, Adam Johnston and Stephen Seliskar will team with Dias on the Boilers' 200 medley relay team Friday.
Purdue will be represented by 10 men, six swimmers and four divers, at the NCAA Championships for the second year in a row.
The top 16 finishers in the afternoon preliminaries advance to the finals and assure themselves of All-America honors. They also score team points for their schools by qualifying for finals. The top eight advance to the championship finals. The ninth through 16th-place finishers in prelims compete in the consolation finals later in the day, those spots being Honorable Mention All-America.
Bissett, Cox and Dias each earned Honorable Mention All-America accolades last season by qualifying for the consolation finals of 3-meter diving, 200 breaststroke and platform diving, respectively. Bissett was also an Honorable Mention All-American in platform diving in 2013.
Lyam Dias, Guillermo Blanco & Dan Ross Preview the NCAA Championships
Bissett and Dias qualified for the NCAA Championships for the third year in a row. Bissett and Johnson qualified for the national championship meet in all three diving events. Blanco earned a spot in three individual swimming events for the second year in a row. He is one of eight Boilers set to compete at NCAAs for at least the second time in their careers.
Amaltdinov and Johnson qualified for the NCAA Championships as freshmen. Amaltdinov joined Flager and Seliskar as active Boilers to make it as freshmen, but he's the first Purdue swimmer to qualify individually as a freshman since 2006. Johnson is the program's first freshman diver to make it to the national championship meet since 2013. He was victorious in platform diving at the USA Diving Winter Nationals in December and was the Boilers' top scorer (51 points) at Big Tens after finishing as the runner-up in the all three diving events.
After winning the 200 breaststroke at the Big Ten Championships to claim Purdue's first conference title in a swimming event since 2009, Dias is the Boilers' highest-ranked swimmer entering the NCAA Championships. He's ranked 11th in the 200 breast. Last year he became the first Purdue swimmer to garner Honorable Mention All-America accolades in an individual event since 2010. This year, Amaltdinov, Blanco and Dias are out to become the program's first full-fledged swimming All-American since Giordan Pogioli (100 and 200 breast) in 2005.
Led by six-time NCAA champion and later Olympic gold medalist David Boudia, Purdue has had 10 men's divers earn All-America honors during Adam Soldati's first nine years as diving coach. The Purdue men have had at least one diver earn All-America accolades in nine of the last 10 seasons.
The Boilermakers' 200 freestyle relay team claimed Honorable Mention All-America acclaim in both 2012 and 2013. But five of Purdue's six swimmers competing this week, all except Dias, are in search of their first career All-America honor.
The 200 medley relay team eclipsed a program record that had stood since 2009 at the Big Ten Championships. However, that quartet featured Blanco on the butterfly leg and Flager as the freestyle anchor. At the NCAA Championships, the 200 medley relay and 400 IM are consecutive events Friday. Because Blanco qualified individually in the 400 IM, Johnston will replace him on the 200 medley relay team and Flager will move from freestyle to butterfly. There are three individual events between the 200 medley relay and 100 breast Friday, allowing Dias to compete in both events.
Blanco established a new program record in the 200 IM at Big Tens and also holds the benchmark in the 400 IM. Dias is the Boilers' record holder in both the 100 and 200 breast. Amaltdinov eclipsed the Purdue freshman mark in the 200 breast twice this season and ranks second to only Dias in team history. He took third in the 200 breast at Big Tens as the Boilers had two of the top three finishers.
Friday will be Purdue's busiest day at the NCAA Championships. The Boilermakers will be represented in four events that day and eight of the 10 student-athletes in attendance are scheduled to compete. Purdue will have at least two representatives in five individual events this weekend.
The Purdue women were represented by nine student-athletes at the NCAA Championships last weekend in Greensboro, N.C. Two divers and the 800 free relay team earned All-America honors and the Boilers finished in 30th place with 29 points.
Highlights of the Purdue Divers in Action this Season
Purdue Entries & Schedule at NCAA Championships
Marat Amaltdinov - 100 & 200 Breaststroke
Jamie Bissett - 1-Meter, 3-Meter & Platform Diving
Guillermo Blanco - 200 & 400 IM, 200 Fly
Nate Cox - Platform Diving
Lyam Dias - 100 & 200 Breaststroke, 200 Medley Relay
Steele Johnson - 1-Meter Diving, 3-Meter Diving & Platform Diving
Sean Mokhtari - Platform Diving
Austin Flager - 200 Medley Relay
Adam Johnston - 200 Medley Relay
Stephen Seliskar - 200 Medley Relay
Thursday, March 26 - Noon Swimming Prelims, 2:45 Diving Prelims; 8 p.m. Finals (All Times ET)
200 IM - Guillermo Blanco
1-Meter Diving - Jamie Bissett & Steele Johnson
Friday, March 27 - Noon Swimming Prelims, 2:45 Diving Prelims; 8 p.m. Finals (All Times ET)
200 Medley Relay - Stephen Seliskar, Lyam Dias, Austin Flager & Adam Johnston
400 IM - Guillermo Blanco
100 Breast - Marat Amaltdinov & Lyam Dias
3-Meter Diving - Jamie Bissett & Steele Johnson
Saturday, March 28 - Noon Swimming Prelims, 2:45 Diving Prelims; 8 p.m. Finals (All Times ET)
200 Breast - Marat Amaltdinov & Lyam Dias
200 Fly - Guillermo Blanco
Platform Diving - Jamie Bissett, Nate Cox, Steele Johnson & Sean Mokhtari
2015 Purdue Men's Swimming NCAA Qualifiers
Event, Time (National Rank)
* -- New Purdue Record Time
^ -- New Purdue Freshman Record Time
Lyam Dias (NCAAs Qualifier: 2013-15)
200 Breaststroke, 1:53.92 (11th)
100 Breaststroke, 52.72 (21st)
Guillermo Blanco (NCAAs Qualifier: 2014-15)
200 IM, 1:43.87* (20th)
400 IM, 3:44.47 (24th)
200 Butterfly, 1:45.32 (39th)
Marat Amaltdinov (NCAAs Qualifier as a Freshman)
200 Breast, 1:54.33^ (18th)
100 Breast, 53.96 (44th)
Relay Qualifiers
Second Career NCAAs Berths for All Three
Austin Flager
Adam Johnston
Stephen Seliskar
Relay Ranking
200 Medley Relay, 1:26.57* (26th)