Live Results / Thursday Results / Purdue Notables / Order of Events
THURSDAY TEAM SCORES
MEN | WOMEN 1. Virginia Tech, 354 2. Purdue, 257 3. Villanova, 165.5 4. William & Mary, 158.5 5. Connecticut, 110 6. Old Dominion, 67 Divers Only 7. Yale, 32 8. Clemson, 23 9. Rutgers, 20 10. James Madison, 13 |
CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. -- Runner-up finishes in A finals by Kaersten Meitz and Jackie Smailis highlighted the opening day of races for the Purdue swimmers Thursday at the H2Okie Fall Invitational hosted by Virginia Tech.
Led by Meitz and Smailis, the Purdue women were in second place among the six teams with swimmers in attendance. The Purdue men are third place among the eight-team field. Nick McDowell took third in the A final of the 500 free for men's top individual finish Thursday.
The 200 individual medley was the top-scoring individual event for both Purdue teams. The women had six of the top 12 finishers to rack up 63 points in the event. The men earned 27.5 team points in the 200 IM after four Boilermakers qualified for the scoring finals.
Smailis moved into eighth place in program history with a career-best time of 22.89 while finishing second in the A final of the 50 freestyle. She was one of three Boilermakers to post an NCAA provisional-qualifying time (B cut). Emmy Rawson was third in the A final of the 200 IM with a career-best time of 2:01.38 (B cut), moving up to seventh place in program history.
McDowell (4:28.54) and Meitz (4:41.69, B cut) were the top qualifiers in the prelims of the 500 free with Purdue season-best times. But they were unable to improve on their prelim times in the finals and settled for top-three finishes.
"The attitude of our teams was awesome tonight," men's coach Dan Ross said. "It was the best I've seen in a while. I loved the passion when we were a little flat in the pool. Couldn't be prouder."
The Purdue women finished second in both relays contested Thursday. Danielle Auckley and Breanna Robinson contributed to the 200 free and 400 medley relay teams. Auckley was an A finalist in the 50 free as well. Taite Kitchel (fourth in the 200 IM) and Smailis were also part of one those relays to go along with being an A finalist.
Erik Juliusson was also an A finalist for the Purdue men, finishing seventh in the 200 IM with a team season-best time of 1:50.00. It matched the mark posted by Joe Young while finishing in a tie for second in the B final of the event moments earlier. Eddy Zawatski (50 free) also finished as the runner-up in a B final.
Austin Flager and Filip Bujoczek were both part of the Purdue men's top teams in the 200 free and 400 medley relays. They helped the Boilermakers finish second in the 400 medley relay after freshman Kiki Komlenic posted a team season-best time of 48.58 in the 100 backstroke on the leadoff leg of the race.
Marat Amaltdinov (200 IM), Alex Clarke (200 IM), Roxy Griffore (50 free), Julianne Heyde (500 free), Hanna House (200 IM), Meagan Lim (200 IM), Emily Meckstroth (500 free), Adam Noens (200 IM), Jared Schimmelpfenning (500 free), Annie Spalding (200 IM) and Nate Thomas (50 free) also scored in an individual event for Purdue on Thursday.
Grant Lewis and Hannah Manger teamed up to give the Boilermakers a sweep of the C finals of the 200 IM.
Action continues Friday with prelims at 10 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m.