ROSEMONT, Ill. – After accounting for four of Purdue swimming & diving's eight victories in the individual events at the Purdue Invitational, Emily (Bretscher) Pfeiffer, Tyler Downs and Brady Samuels were all recognized with weekly honors from the Big Ten Conference.
Pfeiffer and Downs swept the Big Ten Diver of the Week honors. Samuels was recognized as the Big Ten Freshman of the Week.
Pfeiffer's seventh career award moved her within one of Carrie McCambridge's program record. Downs was honored for the third time in six weeks and remains the only men's diver in the league to be recognized multiple times this season.
Samuels enjoyed a breakout meet at the Purdue Invitational, producing a meet-high 71 team points while scoring in all four of his individual events. He won the 100 butterfly with a program record time (45.66) and set freshman benchmarks in the 100 freestyle (42.93) and 100 backstroke (46.68) while finishing as the runner-up in the A final. He was also the runner-up to teammate Nikola Aćin in the 50 free.
THE LAST TIME..
• Purdue Swept the Big Ten Diver of Week Honors: Greg Duncan & Emily (Bretscher) Pfeiffer in February 2020
• Boilermaker won Big Ten Diver of the Week 3 Times Before Thanksgiving: Greg Duncan in 2019
• Purdue had 2 different Big Ten Freshman of Week Winners in a Season: Ryan Lawrence & Nikola Bjelajac in 2017-18
Pfeiffer and Downs produced impressive scores in their victories in the dive well. Pfeiffer posted a season-best score of 362.75 in her win on 3-meter. Her score is No. 3 in the Big Ten this season. She also took third on 1-meter.
Downs was victorious with a pair of 450-point lists, both marks improving his place on the Purdue all-time leaderboards. After not competing on 1-meter Thursday, he registered a list score of 450.70 in the 3-meter prelim, improving on his seventh-best mark in team history and leading a 1-2-3 finish for the Boilermakers in the event. In his first collegiate competition on the platform, he was victorious by 103 points thanks to a big score of 476.50. He moved into fourth place in program history behind only Olympians David Boudia, Steele Johnson and Brandon Loschiavo. Both of Downs' list scores are believed to be the best in the nation so far this season.
Samuels posted the Big Ten's best time of the season in the 100 fly. Headlined by his program record, he also moved into the top six in program history in the 50 free (19.58), 100 free and 100 back. Samuels joined Aćin as the only Boilermakers to swim on four scoring relays, helping Purdue win the 200 and 400 free relays. Including both medleys, all four relay teams registered top-five times in program history. NCAA provisional qualifying times (B Cuts) were recorded all four of his individual events as well as the 200 free relay.
Aćin was the last Boilermaker to establish multiple freshman records at the same meet, resetting the 50, 100 and 200 first-year benchmarks at the 2019 Big Ten Championships. At the Purdue Invite, Aćin (50 free) and Samuels (100 fly) both took down program records that had stood since the 2009 Big Ten Championships.
After a winter training camp during the semester break on campus, Purdue is slated to resume its competition schedule Saturday, Jan. 20 with a co-ed dual at Indiana. In the meantime, the Purdue divers are slated to compete at the USA Diving Winter Nationals the week of Dec. 13 to 18 in Bloomington, Indiana.
Pfeiffer and Downs swept the Big Ten Diver of the Week honors. Samuels was recognized as the Big Ten Freshman of the Week.
Pfeiffer's seventh career award moved her within one of Carrie McCambridge's program record. Downs was honored for the third time in six weeks and remains the only men's diver in the league to be recognized multiple times this season.
Samuels enjoyed a breakout meet at the Purdue Invitational, producing a meet-high 71 team points while scoring in all four of his individual events. He won the 100 butterfly with a program record time (45.66) and set freshman benchmarks in the 100 freestyle (42.93) and 100 backstroke (46.68) while finishing as the runner-up in the A final. He was also the runner-up to teammate Nikola Aćin in the 50 free.
THE LAST TIME..
• Purdue Swept the Big Ten Diver of Week Honors: Greg Duncan & Emily (Bretscher) Pfeiffer in February 2020
• Boilermaker won Big Ten Diver of the Week 3 Times Before Thanksgiving: Greg Duncan in 2019
• Purdue had 2 different Big Ten Freshman of Week Winners in a Season: Ryan Lawrence & Nikola Bjelajac in 2017-18
Pfeiffer and Downs produced impressive scores in their victories in the dive well. Pfeiffer posted a season-best score of 362.75 in her win on 3-meter. Her score is No. 3 in the Big Ten this season. She also took third on 1-meter.
Downs was victorious with a pair of 450-point lists, both marks improving his place on the Purdue all-time leaderboards. After not competing on 1-meter Thursday, he registered a list score of 450.70 in the 3-meter prelim, improving on his seventh-best mark in team history and leading a 1-2-3 finish for the Boilermakers in the event. In his first collegiate competition on the platform, he was victorious by 103 points thanks to a big score of 476.50. He moved into fourth place in program history behind only Olympians David Boudia, Steele Johnson and Brandon Loschiavo. Both of Downs' list scores are believed to be the best in the nation so far this season.
Samuels posted the Big Ten's best time of the season in the 100 fly. Headlined by his program record, he also moved into the top six in program history in the 50 free (19.58), 100 free and 100 back. Samuels joined Aćin as the only Boilermakers to swim on four scoring relays, helping Purdue win the 200 and 400 free relays. Including both medleys, all four relay teams registered top-five times in program history. NCAA provisional qualifying times (B Cuts) were recorded all four of his individual events as well as the 200 free relay.
Aćin was the last Boilermaker to establish multiple freshman records at the same meet, resetting the 50, 100 and 200 first-year benchmarks at the 2019 Big Ten Championships. At the Purdue Invite, Aćin (50 free) and Samuels (100 fly) both took down program records that had stood since the 2009 Big Ten Championships.
After a winter training camp during the semester break on campus, Purdue is slated to resume its competition schedule Saturday, Jan. 20 with a co-ed dual at Indiana. In the meantime, the Purdue divers are slated to compete at the USA Diving Winter Nationals the week of Dec. 13 to 18 in Bloomington, Indiana.