WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- All-America honors for two divers and the 800 freestyle relay team along with nine NCAA Championships qualifiers highlighted the 2014-15 season for Purdue women's swimming and diving.
Mary Beth Dunnichay was the Boilers' top individual scorer (43 team points) at the Big Ten Championships and later claimed the team's highest honor of the season when she earned All-America accolades with a fifth-place finish in 1-meter diving at the national championship meet.
Purdue's 800 free relay team of Rhiannon Sheets, Abby Jagdfeld, Nika Karlina Petric and Allie Davis established a new program record at Big Tens and then earned Honorable Mention All-America acclaim at NCAAs with a 12th place finish. Together they became the Boilers' first All-America relay team since 2011.
Senior MacKenzie Tweardy closed out her collegiate career by taking home All-America honors for the second year in a row. She was an Honorable Mention All-American in platform diving again this year. She was the final Purdue athlete to compete at the NCAA Championships, helping Purdue finish in 30th place with 29 team points.
Sheets led off the 800 free relay with a new individual program record in the 200 free, the third individual program record that she owned during her time as a Boilermaker. The senior closed out her career as a four-time individual qualifier for the NCAA Championships. She advanced to a swim-off following the prelims of the 200 free at NCAAs, but was out touched by Cincinnati's Jackie Keire for the final spot in the consolation final.
Emily Fogle returned from the injuries that had sidelined her for much of the last two years and competed at the national championship meet for the third time. She was granted a sixth year of eligibility via a medical hardship waiver and is set to return for the 2015-16 campaign.
Sheets (111.5) and Tweardy (109) finished their careers ranked one-two among Purdue's active scoring leaders at Big Tens after both scored in individual events all four years. They were among the five Boilers, along with Hannah Manger, Davis and Dunnichay, to score in three individual events at the 2015 conference championship meet. Purdue established eight new records and finished in fifth place at Big Tens, two spots higher than the previous year.
Nine new records were established this season - four individual benchmarks, two relay records and three freshman standards. Kylie Vogel (100 fly), Petric (400 IM) and Sheets (200 free) each accounted for a new individual mark and were part of a record-setting relay. Jagdfeld broke two freshman records to go along with contributing to the 800 free relay mark.
Kaersten Meitz broke the 500 free record as a freshman. She also joined Fogle (2011) and Sheets (2012) as recent freshmen swimmers to qualify for NCAAs as an individual. Alex Todd broke her own program record in the 100 butterfly at Big Tens only to see Kylie Vogel eclipse it a week later. The classmates had done the same in opposite fashion between the prelims and finals at Big Tens a year ago.
The weekend of Nov. 21-23, Purdue won the five-team Ohio State Invitational after 26 Boilermakers scored in at least one individual event. It marked the first time Purdue won a multi-day invitational meet on the road since November 2004 at North Carolina. Fogle and Jagdfeld each won a pair of individual events.
The Boilermakers will have to bid adieu to its large, accomplished senior class. But NCAAs qualifiers Davis, Dunnichay, Fogle, Jagdfeld, Meitz and Petric headline the student-athletes expected to return for the 2015-16 season.
ALL-AMERICA
Mary Beth Dunnichay - 1-Meter Diving
HONORABLE MENTION ALL-AMERICA
MacKenzie Tweardy - Platform Diving
Allie Davis - 800 Free Relay
Abby Jagdfeld - 800 Free Relay
Nika Karlina Petric - 800 Free Relay
Rhiannon Sheets - 800 Free Relay
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS QUALIFIERS
Mary Beth Dunnichay - 1-Meter, 3-Meter & Platform Diving
Rhiannon Sheets - 200 Freestyle, 200 Butterfly & 800 Free Relay
Allie Davis - 200, 500 & 1650 Freestyle; 800 Free Relay
Kaersten Meitz - 200, 500 & 1650 Freestyle
Francesca Marr - 100 & 200 Breast; 200 IM
Emily Fogle - 100 & 200 Breaststroke
MacKenzie Tweardy - Platform Diving
Nika Karlina Petric - 800 Free Relay
Abby Jagdfeld - 800 Free Relay
NEW PROGRAM RECORDS
Rhiannon Sheets - 200 Freestyle (1:45.16)
Kaersten Meitz - 500 Freestyle (4:42.11)
Kylie Vogel - 100 Butterfly (52.85)
Nika Karlina Petric - 400 IM (4:13.97)
200 Medley Relay Team - Manger, Fogle, Vogel & Li (1:39.03)
800 Free Relay Team - Sheets, Jagdfeld, Petric & Davis (7:03.15)
NEW PURDUE FRESHMAN RECORDS
Abby Jagdfeld - 100 (49.78) & 200 Freestyle (1:46.22)
Kaersten Meitz - 500 Free (4:42.11)
N4A WILMA RUDOLPH STUDENT-ATHLETE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Emily Fogle
BIG TEN MEDAL OF HONOR
MacKenzie Tweardy (Female Honoree for all of Purdue Athletics)
BIG TEN POSTGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP
Carly Marshall (Female Honoree for all of Purdue Athletics)
BIG TEN WEEKLY AWARDS
Mary Beth Dunnichay - Three-Time Big Ten Diver of the Week (Oct. 21, Nov. 4 & Jan. 13)
Julianne Heyde - Big Ten Swimmer & Freshman of the Week (Feb. 17)
TEAM AWARDS
Most Valuable - Mary Beth Dunnichay & Rhiannon Sheets
Most Improved - Emmy Rawson & Samm Reese
P2S - Lizzy Lyon
Whatever It Takes - Emily Fogle & Kylie Vogel
Red Mackey Nominees - Francesca Marr & Carly Marshall
Bob Holloway Most Inspirational Senior Performance - Rhiannon Sheets & Alex Todd
Star Recruiter - Kate Curley & Leah Ritsema
Tom Reiter Commitment to Excellence - Emily Fogle, Abby Jagdfeld & Madison Monteiro
Cathy Wright-Eger Continuing Women of Educational Excellence - Anji Li & Carly Marshall
Captain Awards (2014-15 Season) - Mary Beth Dunnichay, Francesca Marr, Rhiannon Sheets, Alex Todd & MacKenzie Tweardy
PURDUE DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR ATHLETE AWARDS
Anji Li
Carly Marshall
Rhiannon Sheets
Kylie Vogel
BIG TEN DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS (3.7+ GPA)
Stevie Bauer
Allie Davis
Lew Gerbrandt
Grace Hernandez
Rylee Klomp
Anji Li
Lizzy Lyon
Carly Marshall
Madison Monteiro
Nika Karlina Petric
Leah Ritsema
Rhiannon Sheets
MacKenzie Tweardy
CSCAA SCHOLAR ALL-AMERICANS (3.5+ GPA)
Allie Davis
Abby Jagdfeld
Nika Karlina Petric
Rhiannon Sheets
MacKenzie Tweardy
CSCAA HONORABLE MENTION SCHOLAR ALL-AMERICANS (3.5+ GPA)
Anji Li
Hannah Manger
Carly Marshall
Annie Spalding
Alex Todd
Kylie Vogel
ACADEMIC ALL-BIG TEN (3.0+ GPA)
Stevie Bauer
Kate Curley
Allie Davis
Mary Beth Dunnichay
Grace Einterz
Megan Gallagher
Lew Gerbrandt
Grace Hernandez
Anji Li
Meagan Lim
Lizzy Lyon
Francesca Marr
Carly Marshall
Madison Monteiro
Nika Karlina Petric
Leah Ritsema
Stephanie Schlobohm
Rhiannon Sheets
Emma Steinken
Alex Todd
MacKenzie Tweardy
Kylie Vogel
WOODEN LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE CERTIFICATES OF ACHIEVEMENT
Emily Fogle,
Carly Marshall
Rhiannon Sheets
Alex Todd
Purdue's Individual Scoring Recap at the Big Ten Championships
Team Points Earned by Championship (A) & Consolation (B) Finals Qualifiers
1.) Mary Beth Dunnichay - 43 Points
3-Meter Diving - Finished 4th in A Final (15 Points)
Platform Diving - Finished 4th in A Final (15 Points)
1-Meter Diving - Finished 6th in A Final (13 Points)
2.) MacKenzie Tweardy - 34 Points
Plaform Diving - Finished 3rd in A Final (16 Points)
1-Meter Diving - Finished in 5th A Final (14 Points)
3-Meter Diving - Finished 5th in B Final (4 Points)
3.) Rhiannon Sheets - 30 Points
200 Fly - Finished 4th in A Final (15 Points)
200 Free - Finished 7th in A Final (12 Points)
100 Fly - Finished 6th in B Final (3 Points)
4.) Emily Fogle - 26 Points
200 Breast - Finished 4th in A Final (15 Points)
100 Breast - Finished 8th in A Final (11 Points)
5.) Allie Davis - 19 Points
200 Free - Won B Final (9 Points)
500 Free - Finished 3rd in B Final (6 Points)
1650 Free - Finished 13th (4 Points)
6.) Francesca Marr - 19 Points
200 Breast - Finished 6th in A Final (13 Points)
100 Breast - Finished 3rd in B Final (6 Points)
7.) Abby Jagdfeld - 17 Points
200 Free - Finished 6th in A Final (13 Points)
500 Free - Finished in 5th in B Final (4 Points)
8.) Hannah Manger - 16 Points
100 Back - Finished 2nd in B Final (7 Points)
200 Back - Finished 3rd in B Final (6 Points)
200 IM - Finished in 6th B Final (3 Points)
9.) Kaersten Meitz - 13 Points
500 Free - Finished 2nd in B Final (7 Points)
1650 Free - Finished 11th (6 Points)
10.) Kylie Vogel - 12 Points
100 Fly - Finished 2nd in B Final (7 Points)
50 Free - Finished 4th in B Final (5 Points)
11.) Nika Karlina Petric - 12 Points
400 IM - Finished 8th in A Final (11 Points)
500 Free Finished 8th in B Final (1 Point)
12.) Alex Todd - 11 Points
100 Fly - Finished 8th in A Final (11 Points)
13.) Emmy Rawson - 9 Points
200 Fly - Won B Final (9 Points)
14.) Meagan Lim - 8 Points
100 Fly - Finished 5th in B Final (4 Points)
200 Fly - Finished 5th in B Final (4 Points)
15.) Samm Reese - 1 Point
3-Meter Diving - Finished 8th in B Final (1 Point)