ROSEMONT, Ill. -- Marat Amaltdinov, Steele Johnson and Nick McDowell gave Purdue men's swimming & diving a sweep of the Big Ten weekly honors after the three Boilermakers won two events each at the dual meet with No. 16 Notre Dame.
Amaltdinov was named the Big Ten Swimmer of the Week for the fourth time in his career. Johnson repeated as Big Ten Diver of the Week, earning his eighth career honor overall. Nick McDowell was selected as the Big Ten Freshman of the Week.
Amaltdinov led the way as Purdue dominated the breaststroke events at Notre Dame. He posted NCAA provisional-qualifying times in both events. The Russian won the 200 breast (1:58.28) by six seconds with a new pool-record time at UND's Rolfs Aquatic Center. Chris Bals and James Nguyen teamed with Amaltdinov to give the Boilermakers a 1-2-3 finish in the event. Amaltdinov won the 100 breast with a time of 55.39 and his 50 split of 25.20 in the 200 medley relay was the best breaststroke split in the entire race.
Johnson swept the springboard events to improve to 5-for-6 in winning diving events this season. He surpassed the 400-point mark on both springboards, posting a pair of NCAA Zone-qualifying scores again. With scores of 408.55 and 412.15, he was victorious by 30 points on 1-meter and 14.5 on 3-meter.
McDowell remained unbeaten in individual events this season, sweeping the distance freestyle events at Notre Dame to improve to 6-for-6 in event wins. He won the 500 free (4:30.75) by five seconds and the 1,000 (9:18.71) by eight seconds. He improved on his season-best time in the 1,000 by 16 seconds and in the 500 by 3.5 seconds.
Amaltdinov's 200 breaststroke time (1:58.28) is currently ranked fourth nationally among the data compiled by CollegeSwimming.com. He's also 32nd in the 100 breast. McDowell is among the top 50 in both distance freestyle events.
Although he won't be able to eclipse the benchmark this season, Johnson (8) is chasing David Boudia's Big Ten record (20) for Diver of the Week awards. Barring injury, Johnson should be eligible to win six more Diver of the Week awards this season.
Amaltdinov joins Purdue Hall of Famer Vilmos Kovacs as the only the Boilermakers to be a four-time Big Ten Swimmer of the Week/Month. The Big Ten recognized a Swimmer of the Month from 1989-90 through the 1997-98 seasons.
Since the Big Ten added Freshman of the Week to its weekly swimming & diving awards program midway through the 2011-12 season, McDowell is the 11th member of the men's team to be recognized.
Purdue returns to action Friday for a 3 p.m. ET triple dual in Iowa City featuring the Hawkeyes and Missouri State.