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MEET INFORMATION: BIG TEN TRIPLE DUALS
Purdue Men (3-3, 1-2 B1G) and Women (6-2, 3-1 B1G) host No. 16 Minnesota, Northwestern
Friday, Jan. 27 at 5 p.m. ET / Saturday, Jan. 28 at Noon ET
Boilermaker Aquatic Center / West Lafayette, Indiana
Jan. 27 Update: Friday's action will begin with springboard diving at 5 p.m. ET.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The finale of Purdue swimming & diving's January homestand doubles as the final full co-ed meet of the season, as the Boilermakers host Minnesota and Northwestern for the two-day Big Ten Triple Duals.
Action begins at 5 p.m. ET on Friday and noon Saturday. Purdue's 17 seniors -- 13 student-athletes and four members of the support staff -- will be recognized at 11:30 a.m. Saturday. The university's Big Bass Drum will again be on deck for the annual senior salute ceremony.
The first 75 kids arriving at the pool on Friday receive free Purdue goggles. Purdue Athletics is sponsoring a swim cap giveaway for the first 250 fans of all ages Saturday. Admission is free for all regular-season meets at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center.
Purdue is hosting the Big Ten Triple Duals for the first time since 2014 and sixth time since the Boilermaker Aquatic Center opened in August 2001. Northwestern replaced Wisconsin in the field two years ago and this weekend marks the first time Purdue will host the meet with it featuring the Gophers and Wildcats. Northwestern has not been part of a co-ed meet at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center since November 2013. The Minnesota men and women are both ranked 16th in the latest College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) top-25 polls.
The Boilermakers were once again recognized as CSCAA Scholar All-America Teams this week. The Purdue women compiled a 3.32 team GPA in the fall semester while the men posted a 3.13 mark. Minnesota and Northwestern had both of their teams recognized as well. Individual Scholar All-America honors are announced in the summer.
With 11 event wins, Nick McDowell = #InstantImpact. Now the freshman is @Alexacrystal13's guest on Behind the Blocks https://t.co/UrzrtB2y3g
-- Purdue Swim-Dive (@PurdueMSwimDive) January 25, 2017
Platform diving will be contested again this weekend and be featured as a non-scoring exhibition event Saturday. Both genders will compete from the springboards Friday.
Meanwhile, 17 of the 19 standard swimming events are included in the two-day format, all but the mile and the 400 medley relay. Each day begins and ends with a relay. There will be two heats of all the individual events. Lane assignments were selected via a blind draw Tuesday. Purdue was assigned lanes two and five, Minnesota four and seven, Northwestern three and six. The outside lanes are open to any teams for their non-scoring exhibition entries.
Purdue's seniors were freshmen when the Boilermaker Aquatic Center last served as the site of the Big Ten Triple Duals. They were also fortunate enough to have the Big Ten Championships contested in their home pools during their careers. The 2011 senior class was the last group to experience that same collection of home meets.
The two-day Big Ten Triple Duals serves as a mini Big Tens, a preview of the big meet to come that the majority of the in-season training is geared towards. Student-athletes get an opportunity to compete in almost every event that will be featured in the championship meets next month.
The Purdue men will be competing at home for the final time this season. They'll travel to Columbus next month for the Big Ten Championships (Feb. 22-25). The Purdue women have two home meets remaining. The Big Ten Women's Championships (Feb. 15-18) is being held at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center for the first time since 2010 and the Boiler-Make-It NCAA Last Chance meet (Feb. 25) returns from a one-year hiatus due to the men's Big Tens taking precedence.
Competing at home for the final time this weekend will be seniors Josh Brooks, Filip Bujoczek, Ted Curtiss, Josh Ehrman, Austin Flager, James Nguyen, Matt Quinlan and Alex Toetz. For the women, seniors Grace Einterz, Grace Hernandez, Hannah Manger, Meagan Lim and Leah Ritsema get to remain on campus for all of February as the rest of the conference visits their home pool for Big Tens next month.
Among active Boilermakers, Joe Cifelli (3-meter diving) and Brooks (1,000 free) won events at the Big Ten Triple Duals in Evanston last season. Two years ago when the meet was held in Minneapolis, Steele Johnson swept the diving events (3-meter and platform). Marat Amaltdinov (200 breast) and Kaersten Meitz (1,000 free) also won events. As a freshman in 2014, Flager swam the leadoff leg on Purdue's victorious 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams.
Johnson (14), Meitz (13), Nick McDowell (11) and Amaltdinov (9) continue to lead Purdue in individual event victories this season. Danielle Auckley has been part of a team-high six relay winners after helping the women sweep the freestyle relays vs. Indiana last week.
.@HeyJuliann Heyde discusses freestyle success & 4-legged friends 🐶 w/ @Alexacrystal13 in latest Behind the Blocks. https://t.co/FE0HtqjKnP
-- Purdue Swimming (@PurdueWSwim) January 25, 2017