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MEET INFORMATION
Purdue Women host the Big Ten Championships
Wednesday to Saturday, Feb. 15 to 18
11 a.m. ET Prelims, 6:30 p.m. Finals / BTN Plus on BTN2Go
Boilermaker Aquatic Center / West Lafayette, Indiana
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The championship portion of the collegiate swimming & diving season kicks off this week at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center as Purdue welcomes the rest of the conference to campus for the Big Ten Women's Swimming & Diving Championships.
The seven-session meet begins Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. ET with the 200 medley and 800 freestyle relays. Preliminaries are set for the afternoon sessions and begin at 11 a.m. Relays are contested, Big Ten champions determined and team points earned in the evening finals, which begin nightly at 6:30 p.m. Diving prelims begin daily at 1 p.m. as the afternoon bridge between the sessions.
The Purdue women are hosting the Big Ten Championships for the first time since 2010, a year in which they also hosted the NCAA Championships. This year, the national championship meet is at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis next month. The Boilermaker Aquatic Center also served as the site of the 2016 Men's Big Ten Championships. This week's conference championship meet is the sixth hosted by Purdue since the Boilermaker Aquatic Center opened in 2001.
The Big Ten Network will televise the Saturday finals session Sunday at 10:30 a.m. ET. BTN Plus on BTN2Go will also be offering live pay-per-view webcast coverage of all seven sessions.
The Boilermakers established 15 new records -- nine individual, four relay and two freshman -- when they last hosted the Big Ten Championships seven years ago. Purdue finished in fourth place to match its best-ever finish along with its top showing since 1992. John Klinge was recognized as the Big Ten Coach of the Year. The Boilermakers have finished fifth in four of the six seasons since. The only Purdue record from the 2010 Big Ten Championships that still stands is Allie Smith's benchmark in the 200 backstroke. That's a byproduct of the many new records that have been established under Klinge's guidance in the years since. Purdue has posted at least seven new records at Big Tens four times since it last hosted the conference championship meet.
Seniors @GraceH_11 & @MeaganLim join Allie to discuss #Purdue's opp. to host Big Tens & share why they're thankful. https://t.co/rHu92dHJZp
-- Purdue Swimming (@PurdueWSwim) February 14, 2017
Among active Boilermakers, Kaersten Meitz has established a new program record in the 500 freestyle at Big Tens each of the last two seasons. She also teamed with Jackie Smailis, Emily Fogle and Meagan Lim on the record-setting 400 medley relay team last year. Hannah Manger was part of a record time in the 200 medley relay a year earlier. Smailis led off the 400 medley relay race with a Purdue freshman record in the 100 backstroke. She's joined by Maddie Barta (200 back), Alex Clarke (200 IM) and Meitz as current Boilermakers to establish freshman benchmarks at Big Tens over the last two seasons.
With three top-14 individual finishes a year ago, Meitz accounted for 64 team points a year ago to rank second on the team in scoring. She's now the team's active career scoring leader (77 points) at the Big Ten Championships. The scoring breakdown was amended last season so C finals qualifiers also account for team points. That system remains in place this year. Manager has an opportunity to score at Big Tens for the fourth year in a row.
With at least seven 2016 Olympians expected to compete at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center this week, a number of new pool records are likely to be established. Entering the meet, 16 of the 22 current records date back to the 2010 NCAA Championships. Emily Fogle eclipsed the 200 breaststroke standard at the 2015 Purdue Invitational. The other five -- four freestyle events and platform diving -- still stand from the 2005 NCAA Championships.
Of the 24 Boilermakers that scored in an individual event at the 2016 Big Ten Championships, 16 remain active student-athletes. Like Meitz, Meagan Lim and Clarke also scored in three individual events. Breanna Robinson (C final of 100 fly), Barta (B final of the 200 back) and Clarke (C final of 200 fly) all won a race in an evening finals session. Other A finalists a year ago included Emmy Rawson (200 fly), Samm Reese (1-meter diving), Lexi Vincent (platform diving) and Lim (100 fly).
Cally Sampson earned the final spot on Purdue's Big Tens roster with her performance at the Ohio State Winter Invite this past weekend.
While serving as the host of the meet last season, Michigan won its first Big Ten title since 2004. That ended Minnesota's four-year run as conference champs and marked the fourth time in the last six years the host school has won the title.
BIG TEN'S RANKED TEAMS IN CSCAA TOP 25
- No. 6 Michigan, No. 12 Wisconsin, No. 15 Indiana, No. 21 Minnesota, No. 22 Ohio State
BOILERMAKERS AMONG BIG TEN TOP 20
Via season-best times/scores compiled by CollegeSwimming.com
- Emily Meaney: 6th in Platform Diving
- Kaersten Meitz: 10th in 200 Free, 10th in 500 Free, 11th in 1650 Free, 13th in 100 Free
- Jinq En Phee: 10th in 100 Breast
- Taite Kitchel: 11th in 100 Fly, 13th in 200 Fly
- Emmy Rawson: 11th in 200 Fly, 18th in 100 Fly, 19th in 200 IM
- Cady Farlow: 13th in 100 Breast, 16th in 200 Breast
- Jackie Smailis: 17th in 100 Back, 18th in 50 Free
- Meagan Lim: 19th in 100 Fly
YEAR TWO OF THE NEW SCORING BREAKDOWN
- A Final: 32-28-27-26-25-24-23-22
- B Final: 20-17-16-15-14-13-12-11
- C Final: 9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 (And 17th through 24th in Diving Prelims)
- Relays: 64-56-54-52-50-48-46-44-40-34-32-30-28
PURDUE'S MOST RECENT BIG TEN CHAMPIONS
- Diving: Casey Matthews -- 1-Meter, 2014
- Swimming: Carlene Takaki -- 200 Fly, 2006