/ Live Diving Scores / Meet Central /// Preseason Primers: Men / Women
MEET INFORMATION
Purdue Men and Women host Miami (Ohio)
Friday, Oct. 21 at 5 p.m.
Boilermaker Aquatic Center / West Lafayette, Indiana
Purdue Men and Women host the Indiana Intercollegiates
Saturday, Oct. 22 at Noon
Boilermaker Aquatic Center / West Lafayette, Indiana
Visiting Teams: Ball State, DePauw, Evansville, Manchester, Rose-Hulman, Valparaiso, Indiana State (women), Wabash (men)
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The Purdue swimming & diving teams open their new seasons with their only home meets of the fall semester, hosting Miami (Ohio) on Friday for a co-ed dual meet and welcoming eight universities from the around the state to campus Saturday for the annual Indiana Intercollegiates.
Action at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center begins at 5 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday. Admission is free for all regular-season meets at the Boilermakers' home pool. The first 100 fans in attendance at Friday's season-opening dual will receive a free Purdue seat cushion.
After this weekend, the Boilermakers do not compete at home again until Jan. 13. But there will be five home meets held at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center from mid-January through the end of February, highlighted by the Women's Big Ten Championships (Feb. 15-18).
The Indiana Intercollegiates is annually the largest single-day meet hosted by Purdue. This year's field features co-ed teams from Ball State, DePauw, Evansville, Manchester, Rose-Hulman, Valparaiso and the Boilermakers. The Indiana State women and Wabash men will also be in attendance. That equals a field of 16 teams this year. The Sycamores are in their first season of intercollegiate competition. The creation of the program was announced in October 2014.
Traffic and parking will be a bit of a unique challenge on campus Saturday morning due to the fifth annual Purdue Half-Marathon, which is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. and expected to last until noon. Fans attending the Indiana Intercollegiates are encouraged to park in the McCutcheon parking garage to the west of the Boilermaker Aquatic Center. More information about the course map and street closures associated with the half-marathon are available HERE.
We've come to the eve of #Purdue's season-opening weekend. Meagan Lim, Joe Young & John Klinge preview the action. https://t.co/CKY2UKTvPY
-- Purdue Swimming (@PurdueWSwim) October 20, 2016
The Indiana Intercollegiates will feature its customary 12-event format, including springboard diving, two relays and eight other races. Because of the large field of swimmers competing and need for multiple heats, the shorter races comprise the majority of the events. Only 100-yard races in the backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly are contested along with the 200 individual medley. The 500 freestyle is the longest event of the day.
The Miami dual has been a regular part of the Boilermakers' early-season schedule for a while now, but has shifted to a traditional co-ed dual meet this year. Following the retirement of longtime men's coach Pete Lindsay, Hollie Bonewit-Cron has taken over as the head coach of both Miami teams. Previously, the men's and women's series had been contested as separate duals. For example, last year the Purdue women visited Oxford while the Purdue men hosted the RedHawks. All the divers competed at the women's dual meet. The Boilermakers have competed against Miami every year dating back to the 2007-08 campaign.
Fourteen active Boilermakers have won an individual event at the Indiana Intercollegiates during their careers. Josh Brooks, Josh Ehrman, Breanna Robinson and Alex Toetz all have two career event victories at the large annual meet.
PURDUE'S TOP RETURNEES
- The Purdue men and women both welcomed back five student-athletes that have qualified for the NCAA Championships during their careers. Among them, Joe Cifelli, Steele Johnson, Kaersten Meitz and Max Showalter have claimed All-American honors as Boilermakers. Johnson returns to the active roster this year as both an Olympic medalist and two-time NCAA national champion. Entering her junior season, Meitz has already qualified for the NCAA Championships twice as an individual. She finished among the top 16 nationally last year in the 500 freestyle.
- Marat Amaltdinov is the reigning Big Ten champion in the men's 200 breaststroke and was named a Preseason All-American by CollegeSwimming.com. On the women's side, freshman Jinq En Phee was an Olympian in the 100 breaststroke for Malaysia this summer. She is Purdue's first female swimmer with Olympic experience since the 2000-01 campaign. Meanwhile, fellow freshman Emily Meaney also competed on the international stage when she represented Australia at the 2016 FINA Diving World Cup in February.
RECORD BOOK RUNDOWN
- Four of Purdue's individual all-time records are held by current Boilermakers. Amaltdinov (200 breast) and Meitz (500 free) established new benchmarks in their top events last year. Filip Bujoczek (500 free) and Emmy Rawson (200 fly) also have their names on the individual events side of the record boards at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center.
- Bujoczek and Meitz are unique because they rank among the Purdue all-time top 10 in four individual events. That's a byproduct of them excelling at multiple freestyle distances during their careers. Ten other active Boilermakers rank among the program's top 10 in at least three events. That list includes Alex Clarke, Austin Flager, Meagan Lim, Hannah Manger, Adam Noens, Joe Young, Johnson, Rawson and Robinson.
ACTIVE BOILERMAKERS TO WIN INDIV. EVENT(S) AT INDIANA INTERCOLLEGIATES
- Marat Amaltdinov -- 100 Breast, 2015
- Josh Brooks -- 200 IM, 2014 and 2013
- Joe Cifelli -- 1-Meter Diving, 2015
- Josh Ehrman -- 100 Free, 2015; 200 Free, 2014
- Austin Flager -- 50 Free, 2015
- Grace Hernandez -- 50 Free, 2013
- Hanna House -- 100 Back, 2015
- Steele Johnson -- 3-Meter Diving, 2014
- Emily Meckstroth -- 500 Free, 2015
- Morgan Meixner -- 3-Meter Diving, 2015
- Breanna Robinson -- 50 Free and 100 Fly, 2015
- Max Showalter -- 3-Meter Diving, 2015
- Alex Toetz -- 100 Fly, 2015; 100 Back, 2013
- Caroline Weigand -- 100 Breast, 2015