MEET INFORMATION
Purdue Men and Women at No. 16/24 Notre Dame
Friday, Oct. 28 at 5 p.m. ET
Rolfs Aquatic Center / South Bend, Indiana
Women also compete against Miami (Fla.) and Rutgers
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The Purdue swimming & diving teams' first road trips of the new season has them headed to a familiar place as the Boilermakers visit South Bend for a co-ed dual meet with the Fighting Irish on Friday.
Action begins at 5 p.m. ET at the Rolfs Aquatic Center. The women's side of the meet will also feature Notre Dame's former Big East Conference rivals Miami (Fla.) and Rutgers. Both schools do not sponsor men's swimming & diving. Team scoring on the women's side is expected to be in the traditional head-to-head fashion like most multi-team duals meets.
The Boilermakers' six South Bend-area natives -- Chris Bals (South Bend/St. Joseph HS), Hudson Bursch (Granger/Penn HS), Lea Cecil (Granger/Penn HS), Emily Meckstroth (Granger/Penn HS), Samm Reese (Granger/St. Joseph HS) and Annie Spalding (Mishawaka/Penn HS) -- all return home this weekend. Spalding said her family was set to host the women for a team meal Thursday.
The Purdue women have won seven straight dual meets against Notre Dame dating back to the fall of 2009. The Purdue men have been victorious in seven of their last eight duals with Notre Dame dating back to the fall of 2007. However, the men did not compete against each other in a traditional dual meet a year ago. While the UND women visited the Boilermaker Aquatic Center twice last fall, their male swimming counterparts opted to only race at the three-day Purdue Invitational in November. The Purdue women extended their dual meet win streak vs. UND at a Halloween triple dual that also featured Ohio State and men's divers from all three universities.
Allie Davis catches up with @BurschHudson in debut of Behind the Blocks with Big Al. Hudson headed home for UND meet https://t.co/aImpkaLEgW
-- Purdue Swim-Dive (@PurdueMSwimDive) October 26, 2016
The Fighting Irish officially combined their men's and women's programs into one swimming & diving collective operation at the end of last season. Second-year head coach Mike Litzinger was originally hired as the head coach of the women, but also coached the men on an interim basis starting in December of last year. Litzinger has helped both teams earn national rankings in the first College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) top-25 poll of the season. The UND men are ranked 16th and the women 24th this week.
LAST TIME IN SOUTH BEND
- Josh Ehrman helped lead the way in the Purdue men's last visit to South Bend (November 2014). He won the 100 and 200 freestyle while also swimming the leadoff leg on the victorious 400 free relay. Nate Thomas and Bursch also contributed to the relay victory. Josh Brooks won the 1,000 free and finished as the runner-up to Ehrman in the 100 free.
- Meagan Lim, Hannah Manger and Kaersten Meitz were among the Purdue women's top performers two years ago in South Bend, each posting a sweep of their event groups. Lim touched first in the butterfly races, Manger did likewise in the backstroke and Meitz set the pace in the distance freestyle events. Lim duplicated the feat in the triple dual with UND and OSU last year. And Meitz was again victorious in the 1,000 free with another career-best time at that point of the season.
FOUR IN TOP FIVE FOR JULIUSSON, MEITZ
- A number of Boilermakers demonstrated their versatility during the season-opening weekend. Meitz was recognized for her wins in the 100, 500 and 1,000 free by being selected as CollegeSwimming.com's Big Ten Swimmer of the Week. Freshman Nick McDowell also won freestyle events of 200, 500 and 1,000 yards in length. Erik Juliusson and Meitz were the only Boilermakers to post times in four different individual events that all ranked among the top five on their respective teams.
- Juliusson won the 100 fly in the dual meet vs. Miami (Ohio) with Purdue's top time of the weekend in the event. His times in the 100 back and 200 individual medley Saturday at the Intercollegiates were both good for fifth on the team. And his opening 100 split (46.29) on the victorious 400 free relay Friday gave him the second-best time in the 100 free for the first weekend. The sophomore also swam the leadoff backstroke leg on the victorious 200 medley relay team Saturday.
NEXT UP
- The Boilermakers travel to Iowa City next week for a co-ed triple dual with the Hawkeyes and Missouri State. Diver Steele Johnson won two national titles at the 2015 NCAA Championships held at Iowa's Campus Recreation and Wellness Center.
.@AnnieSpalding previews the UND meet & the juniors' Halloween costumes in debut of Behind the Blocks with Big Al. https://t.co/Q7mXDyUA9R
-- Purdue Swimming (@PurdueWSwim) October 26, 2016