Purdue Big Tens Scoring Recap
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Steele Johnson's fifth career NCAA title, a fourth-place finish at the Big Ten Championships and another top-20 showing at the NCAA Championships highlighted Purdue swimming & diving's 2017-18 campaign.
Johnson repeated as the national champion on 3-meter and was also an All-American as the silver medalist on 1-meter. He's one of just three men to win at least five NCAA diving titles since platform was added to the national championship meet in 1990.
Marat Amaltdinov, Joe Cifelli and Brandon Loschiavo also returned to the NCAA Championships. Cifelli and Loschiavo were honorable mention All-America on 1-meter and platform, respectively. Amaltdinov closed out his career by qualifying for NCAAs in the breaststroke events for the fourth time. He was named an Academic All-American for the second year in a row and was also Purdue's male recipient of the Big Ten Medal of Honor.
Together they helped the Boilermakers place 19th in the team scoring, their sixth top-20 finish in the last 10 years.
Johnson (3-meter) and Loschiavo (platform) both won Big Ten titles to help Purdue place fourth, matching its best-ever finish at Big Tens. The Boilermakers have now finished fourth four times in the last 10 seasons. Prior to 2009, they had not finished at least fourth since 1996-97.
Joe Young eclipsed both of the program's backstroke records at the Big Ten Championships, winning bronze in the 100 back. Batuhan Hakan also established a team benchmark in the 500 freestyle. Trent Pellini broke a pair of Purdue freshman records, eclipsing a 100 breaststroke mark that had stood since 2001.
Johnson was honored as the Big Ten Diver of the Year and Purdue Male Athlete of the Year. Since the Big Ten Diver of the Year award was established in 1987, he's just the fourth student-athlete to win it three times. Minnesota's P.J. Bogart (1993-96) is the only four-time winner. Other three-time winners include Indiana's Mike Collier (1997-99) as well as Johnson's friend and fellow Boilermaker David Boudia (2009-11). Johnson is now just one NCAA title shy of Boudia's six. Since platform diving was added to NCAAs in 1990, Texas' Troy Dumais (seven) is the only other man to win at least five national titles.
This year, Johnson became the first Big Ten diver since Boudia in 2011 to win both the conference and national titles on 3-meter in the same year. Both men demonstrated their versatility by winning NCAA and Big Ten titles in both springboard events and the platform during their careers. They remain the only two to accomplish that feat at NCAAs.
Loschiavo won his first career Big Ten title, teaming with Johnson to give Purdue consecutive conference champions on platform. David Colturi (2010) and Boudia (2009, 2011) teaming up to win three straight 1-meter titles at Big Tens from 2009 to 2011 marked the last time the Boilermakers had different champions in the same event in consecutive seasons. Johnson and Loschiavo went on to win the USA Diving national title in synchronized 10-meter to earn a berth at the FINA Diving World Cup in June. They were also bronze medalists at a FINA Diving World Series event in Montreal. Loschiavo also competed individually on 10-meter in China.
In the last 20 years, Amaltdinov became only the 11 Purdue student-athlete across all sports to be a multi-year Academic All-American. Under head coach Dan Ross, he became the eighth member of men's swimming & diving to be honored with the Big Ten Medal of Honor.
The Boilermakers will have to bid adieu to 10 seniors, but are slated to return all three divers that qualified for the NCAA Championships for the 2018-19 season.
NCAA CHAMPION
Steele Johnson – 3-Meter Diving
ALL-AMERICA
Steele Johnson – 1-Meter & 3-Meter Diving
ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA
Marat Amaltdinov – Third Team
HONORABLE MENTION ALL-AMERICA
Joe Cifelli – 1-Meter Diving
Brandon Loschiavo – Platform Diving
Steele Johnson – 3-Meter Diving
PURDUE MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Steele Johnson
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS QUALIFIERS
Marat Amaltdinov – 100 & 200 Breast
Steele Johnson – 1-Meter, 3-Meter & Platform Diving
Joe Cifelli – 1-Meter & 3-Meter Diving
Brandon Loschiavo – Platform Diving
BIG TEN CHAMPIONS, FIRST TEAM ALL-BIG TEN
Steele Johnson – 3-Meter Diving
Brandon Loschiavo – Platform Diving
BIG TEN DIVER OF THE YEAR
Steele Johnson
BIG TEN MEDAL OF HONOR
Marat Amaltdinov
MORE BIG TEN MEDALISTS
Joe Young – Bronze in the 100 Back
BIG TEN POSTGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP
Chris Bals
USA DIVING NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
Steele Johnson & Brandon Loschiavo – Synchronized 10-Meter
FINA DIVING WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS
Brandon Loschiavo – 10-Meter, Synchronized 10-Meter
Steele Johnson – Synchronized 10-Meter
BIG TEN WEEKLY AWARDS
Steele Johnson – 4-Time Diver of the Week (Oct. 18, Oct. 25, Nov. 1, Nov. 8)
Brandon Loschiavo – Diver of the Week (Nov. 22)
Nikola Bjelajac – Freshman of the Week (Jan. 10)
PROGRAM RECORDS
100 Backstroke – Joe Young, 46.59
200 Backstroke – Joe Young, 1:42.56
500 Free – Batuhan Hakan, 4:18.43
200 Medley Relay – Young, Pellini, Juliusson & Bjelajac, 1:26.19
FRESHMAN RECORDS
100 Breast – Trent Pellini, 52.88
200 IM – Trent Pellini, 1:45.50
500 Free – Batuhan Hakan, 4:18.43
TEAM AWARDS
Most Valuable – Steele Johnson
Most Improved – Joe Young
Red Mackey (Excellence by a Senior) – Hudson Bursch
R.O. Papenguth (Sportsmanship) – Jake Thomas
FINA DIVING WORLD SERIES MEDALISTS
Steele Johnson & Brandon Loschiavo – Bronze in 10-Meter Synchro
BIG TEN DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS (3.7+ GPA)
Alex Close
Steele Johnson
Grant Lewis
Nick McDowell
Will Schrensky
CSCAA SCHOLAR ALL-AMERICA (3.5+ GPA & NCAAs QUALIFIER)
Marat Amaltdinov
Steele Johnson
Brandon Loschiavo
CSCAA HONORABLE MENTION SCHOLAR ALL-AMERICA (3.5+ GPA & B CUT)
Alex Close
Gabi Gomez-Treig
Grant Lewis
Nick McDowell
Trent Pellini
Jake Thomas
ACADEMIC ALL-BIG TEN (3.0+ GPA)
Marat Amaltdinov
Chris Bals
Joe Cifelli
Alex Close
Konnor de Venecia
Jake Heidecker
Steele Johnson
Erik Juliusson
Kiki Komlenic
Grant Lewis
Brandon Loschiavo
Gavin McCulloch
Nick McDowell
Jared Schimmelpfenning
Will Schrensky
Jake Thomas
Nate Thomas
Joe Young
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Steele Johnson's fifth career NCAA title, a fourth-place finish at the Big Ten Championships and another top-20 showing at the NCAA Championships highlighted Purdue swimming & diving's 2017-18 campaign.
Johnson repeated as the national champion on 3-meter and was also an All-American as the silver medalist on 1-meter. He's one of just three men to win at least five NCAA diving titles since platform was added to the national championship meet in 1990.
Marat Amaltdinov, Joe Cifelli and Brandon Loschiavo also returned to the NCAA Championships. Cifelli and Loschiavo were honorable mention All-America on 1-meter and platform, respectively. Amaltdinov closed out his career by qualifying for NCAAs in the breaststroke events for the fourth time. He was named an Academic All-American for the second year in a row and was also Purdue's male recipient of the Big Ten Medal of Honor.
Together they helped the Boilermakers place 19th in the team scoring, their sixth top-20 finish in the last 10 years.
Johnson (3-meter) and Loschiavo (platform) both won Big Ten titles to help Purdue place fourth, matching its best-ever finish at Big Tens. The Boilermakers have now finished fourth four times in the last 10 seasons. Prior to 2009, they had not finished at least fourth since 1996-97.
Joe Young eclipsed both of the program's backstroke records at the Big Ten Championships, winning bronze in the 100 back. Batuhan Hakan also established a team benchmark in the 500 freestyle. Trent Pellini broke a pair of Purdue freshman records, eclipsing a 100 breaststroke mark that had stood since 2001.
Johnson was honored as the Big Ten Diver of the Year and Purdue Male Athlete of the Year. Since the Big Ten Diver of the Year award was established in 1987, he's just the fourth student-athlete to win it three times. Minnesota's P.J. Bogart (1993-96) is the only four-time winner. Other three-time winners include Indiana's Mike Collier (1997-99) as well as Johnson's friend and fellow Boilermaker David Boudia (2009-11). Johnson is now just one NCAA title shy of Boudia's six. Since platform diving was added to NCAAs in 1990, Texas' Troy Dumais (seven) is the only other man to win at least five national titles.
This year, Johnson became the first Big Ten diver since Boudia in 2011 to win both the conference and national titles on 3-meter in the same year. Both men demonstrated their versatility by winning NCAA and Big Ten titles in both springboard events and the platform during their careers. They remain the only two to accomplish that feat at NCAAs.
Loschiavo won his first career Big Ten title, teaming with Johnson to give Purdue consecutive conference champions on platform. David Colturi (2010) and Boudia (2009, 2011) teaming up to win three straight 1-meter titles at Big Tens from 2009 to 2011 marked the last time the Boilermakers had different champions in the same event in consecutive seasons. Johnson and Loschiavo went on to win the USA Diving national title in synchronized 10-meter to earn a berth at the FINA Diving World Cup in June. They were also bronze medalists at a FINA Diving World Series event in Montreal. Loschiavo also competed individually on 10-meter in China.
In the last 20 years, Amaltdinov became only the 11 Purdue student-athlete across all sports to be a multi-year Academic All-American. Under head coach Dan Ross, he became the eighth member of men's swimming & diving to be honored with the Big Ten Medal of Honor.
The Boilermakers will have to bid adieu to 10 seniors, but are slated to return all three divers that qualified for the NCAA Championships for the 2018-19 season.
NCAA CHAMPION
Steele Johnson – 3-Meter Diving
ALL-AMERICA
Steele Johnson – 1-Meter & 3-Meter Diving
ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA
Marat Amaltdinov – Third Team
HONORABLE MENTION ALL-AMERICA
Joe Cifelli – 1-Meter Diving
Brandon Loschiavo – Platform Diving
Steele Johnson – 3-Meter Diving
PURDUE MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Steele Johnson
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS QUALIFIERS
Marat Amaltdinov – 100 & 200 Breast
Steele Johnson – 1-Meter, 3-Meter & Platform Diving
Joe Cifelli – 1-Meter & 3-Meter Diving
Brandon Loschiavo – Platform Diving
BIG TEN CHAMPIONS, FIRST TEAM ALL-BIG TEN
Steele Johnson – 3-Meter Diving
Brandon Loschiavo – Platform Diving
BIG TEN DIVER OF THE YEAR
Steele Johnson
BIG TEN MEDAL OF HONOR
Marat Amaltdinov
MORE BIG TEN MEDALISTS
Joe Young – Bronze in the 100 Back
BIG TEN POSTGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP
Chris Bals
USA DIVING NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
Steele Johnson & Brandon Loschiavo – Synchronized 10-Meter
FINA DIVING WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS
Brandon Loschiavo – 10-Meter, Synchronized 10-Meter
Steele Johnson – Synchronized 10-Meter
BIG TEN WEEKLY AWARDS
Steele Johnson – 4-Time Diver of the Week (Oct. 18, Oct. 25, Nov. 1, Nov. 8)
Brandon Loschiavo – Diver of the Week (Nov. 22)
Nikola Bjelajac – Freshman of the Week (Jan. 10)
PROGRAM RECORDS
100 Backstroke – Joe Young, 46.59
200 Backstroke – Joe Young, 1:42.56
500 Free – Batuhan Hakan, 4:18.43
200 Medley Relay – Young, Pellini, Juliusson & Bjelajac, 1:26.19
FRESHMAN RECORDS
100 Breast – Trent Pellini, 52.88
200 IM – Trent Pellini, 1:45.50
500 Free – Batuhan Hakan, 4:18.43
TEAM AWARDS
Most Valuable – Steele Johnson
Most Improved – Joe Young
Red Mackey (Excellence by a Senior) – Hudson Bursch
R.O. Papenguth (Sportsmanship) – Jake Thomas
FINA DIVING WORLD SERIES MEDALISTS
Steele Johnson & Brandon Loschiavo – Bronze in 10-Meter Synchro
BIG TEN DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS (3.7+ GPA)
Alex Close
Steele Johnson
Grant Lewis
Nick McDowell
Will Schrensky
CSCAA SCHOLAR ALL-AMERICA (3.5+ GPA & NCAAs QUALIFIER)
Marat Amaltdinov
Steele Johnson
Brandon Loschiavo
CSCAA HONORABLE MENTION SCHOLAR ALL-AMERICA (3.5+ GPA & B CUT)
Alex Close
Gabi Gomez-Treig
Grant Lewis
Nick McDowell
Trent Pellini
Jake Thomas
ACADEMIC ALL-BIG TEN (3.0+ GPA)
Marat Amaltdinov
Chris Bals
Joe Cifelli
Alex Close
Konnor de Venecia
Jake Heidecker
Steele Johnson
Erik Juliusson
Kiki Komlenic
Grant Lewis
Brandon Loschiavo
Gavin McCulloch
Nick McDowell
Jared Schimmelpfenning
Will Schrensky
Jake Thomas
Nate Thomas
Joe Young