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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The women won all six freestyle events and Steele Johnson rallied for a sweep of his diving events, but it was not enough as the Purdue swimming & diving teams lost both sides of their co-ed dual meet with rival Indiana on Saturday.
Kaersten Meitz was victorious in all four events in which she competed, sweeping the 200, 500 and 1,000 free while also anchoring the 400 free relay to victory. She won the 1,000 vs. IU for the third year in a row. Danielle Auckley was victorious in the 50 and 100 free while also contributing to the victory in the 400 free relay. However, the No. 14 Hoosiers won the other 10 scoring events to pull out a 16-point victory in the team scoring 155-139.
Along with Johnson, Marat Amaltdinov (200 breast) and Nick McDowell (1,000 free) won events for Purdue. No. 4 Indiana was victorious in the team scoring 182.5-117.5.
The Purdue women had the top two finishers in four of the freestyle events -- the 50, 100, 500 and 1,000.
.@Steele_Johnson talks about how he felt in his 1st competition on the platforms since August. Also won on 1-meter. https://t.co/SsagXUO1qD
-- Purdue Swim-Dive (@PurdueMSwimDive) January 21, 2017
Johnson bested a pair of fellow Olympians while winning on 1-meter and the platforms, finishing atop the leaderboards with scores of 393.9 and 436.6. He competed from 10-meter for the first time since the Olympics in August. He got off to a bit of a slow start in both events, but finished strong. In the platform competition, he had the top score of each of the final three rounds, compiling an average score of 77.2 over the final three rounds in the process.
Johnson had the top score of the final four rounds of the 1-meter competition and he needed the consistent awards to overcome IU's Michael Hixon, who won the 1-meter title at the USA Diving Winter Nationals last month. Johnson trailed Hixon 135-108 after round two, but won the event by nine points after compiling an average score of 71.4 over the final four rounds and outscoring Hixon 145.5-126.35 over the final two rounds.
Meitz and Auckley both won back-to-back events. Meitz was victorious in the 1,000 and 200 free in the first two individual events of the meet. There was a 25-minute break between the 50 and 100 free, but Auckley was able to carry over the momentum after winning the 50. The Boilermakers had the top two finishers in both events, with Jackie Smailis finishing second to Auckley in the 50 and Grace Hernandez taking second in the 100. Meitz and Emily Meckstroth also finished 1-2 in the 500 and 1,000. Meanwhile, Smailis and Auckley were part of the victorious 400 free relay team as well.
Meitz leads the Purdue women with 13 individual event victories this season while Johnson increased his team-leading men's total of event wins to 14.
.@Steele_Johnson aced his final dive on 1m. Score of 72 allowed him to complete the comeback & win event. List score of 393.9. #BoilerUp pic.twitter.com/OpMhVWYqSL
-- Purdue Diving (@PurdueDivers) January 21, 2017
McDowell recorded his 11th individual event victory of the season thanks to a team season-best time of 9:13.10 in the 1,000 free that moved him up to sixth place in program history. Amaltdinov's victory in the 200 breaststroke was his ninth win of the season. It came via another NCAA provisional-qualifying time (B cut) of 1:56.67. He also posted a new team season-best time and B cut of 54.87 while finishing as the runner-up in the 100 breast. He was out touched by 21 hundredths of a second by Olympian Blake Pieroni. Purdue's Chris Bals finished third in both breaststroke events.
Cady Farlow also posted a pair of B cuts while finishing second to Olympian Lilly King in both breaststroke events. Farlow posted times of 1:01.91 and 2:15.55. Taite Kitchel (200 fly, 200 IM) was also the Purdue women's top finisher in a pair of events.
Austin Flager posted new team season-best times as the Purdue men's top finisher in the 50 free (20.64) and 100 fly (49.36). He also led off the 400 free relay with a personal season-best 100 time of 45.37 that ranks second on the team this season.
Jake Thomas was out touched by 25 hundredths of a second while finishing second to IU's Bob Glover in the 200 backstroke. Filip Bujoczek (100 and 200 free) was the men's top finisher in a pair of events. He and Flager were both part of each of Purdue's top relay teams.
The Boilermakers close out their dual meet schedules next weekend when they welcome Minnesota and Northwestern to campus for the annual two-day Big Ten Triple Duals. The Purdue women are now 6-2 (3-1 B1G) in duals while the men have a 3-3 (1-2 B1G) mark.
.@DAuckley, @KaerstenMtz teamed up to help #Purdue win all 6 freestyle events vs IU. They discuss the meet w/ Allie. https://t.co/28gwwAxVhL
-- Purdue Swimming (@PurdueWSwim) January 21, 2017