ROSEMONT, Ill. - Steele Johnson and Ryan Lawrence helped account for five of Purdue men's swimming & diving's 16 event victories in the season-opening dual, earning weekly awards from the Big Ten Conference for their efforts.
Johnson was named the Big Ten Diver of the Week after sweeping the springboard events at Miami (Ohio). Lawrence was recognized as the Big Ten Freshman of the Week. He won the 50 freestyle and swam the anchor leg on both victorious relays in Oxford, Ohio.
Johnson was named Big Ten Diver of the Week for the 13th time in his career. Purdue alumnus David Boudia's conference-record is 20 career Diver of the Week honors.
Lawrence is now among the six active Boilermakers to win Big Ten Freshman of the Week during their careers, joining Joe Cifelli, Erik Juliusson, Brandon Loschiavo, Nick McDowell and Johnson.
Johnson posted a pair of Zone-qualifying scores while posting his eighth-consecutive sweep of the diving events at a regular-season college meet. Johnson (344.78) outdueled Cifelli (341.10) in the 3-meter competition, with only 3.68 points separating their list scores. Johnson (321.30) and Loschiavo (304.12) also finished 1-2 on 1-meter.
Lawrence (21.40) was the lone freshman to win an individual event in his collegiate debut, out-touching classmates Gabi Gomez-Treig (21.42) and Keith Gill (21.48) as the Boilermakers enjoyed a 1-2-3 finish in the 50 free. Lawrence also out-touched Gill in an anchor-leg duel to make his team a winner in the meet-opening 200 medley relay. They later teamed with classmates Nathan Barsanti and Dale Williams to help Purdue win the 400 free relay. Lawrence closed the 400 free relay with a race-best anchor split of 46.67.
Head coach Dan Ross also highlighted Trent Pellini as another freshman who enjoyed a strong debut. He placed second to Marat Amaltdinov in both breaststroke events, finishing just .25 hundredths behind the All-American in the 100 with a time of 55.98.
The Boilermakers open their home schedule Thursday with a good test vs. No. 16 South Carolina. The co-ed dual at the Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center is set for 6 p.m. ET.