WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue Men’s Swimming is chasing team records and NCAA Championships qualifying times in the 200-yard relays as it sends nine Boilermakers to race at the Ohio State Winter Invitational this weekend.
Purdue is traveling its top performers in the 50- and 100-yard events back to Columbus. The 200 freestyle relay is set for Friday and the 200 medley relay Saturday. The Boilermakers plan to race in those events in time trials at noon and as part of the finals sessions at 5 p.m.
BOILERMAKERS TRAVELING FOR OSU WINTER INVITE
• Dylan Burau
• Lucas Byrd
• Jānis Dzirkalis
• Cooper Callahan
• Alex Hotta
• Andy Kelly
• Jonah Lee
• Blake Rowe
• Nathaniel Thomas
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200 RELAY TIMES OF NOTE |
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Relay |
Purdue Record |
NCAA B Cut |
NCAA A Cut |
|
200 Free |
1:16.50 (2021) |
1:16.91 |
1:16.23 |
|
200 Medley |
1:23.82 (2021) |
1:23.85 |
1:23.61 |
A program can qualify a relay for the NCAA Championships by achieving an NCAA automatic qualifying time (A Cut) or by sending four individual qualifiers to the national championship meet while having a corresponding NCAA provisional qualifying time (B Cut) in a relay.
The Boilermakers have not qualified a relay for NCAAs since 2022. By utilizing the OSU Winter Invite as a “first chance” meet while not changing the teams’ rest/taper for the Big Ten Championships (Feb. 25-28), the coaching staff is aiming to give Purdue multiple opportunities to go after A Cuts and team records while in prime racing form. At the Ohio State Invitational in November, the Boilermakers set season-best times in both the 200 free (1:17.23, 3rd all-time) and 200 medley relays (1:24.66, 6th) while moving into the top 10 in team history.
Blake Rowe and Dylan Burau are also planning on racing time trials in the 200 backstroke Saturday evening. Both Boilermakers have eclipsed the program record in the event during their time in West Lafayette. Rowe (1:41.43) took possession of the record at the Ohio State Invitational in November. The sophomore’s time was also an NCAAs qualifying time and is 43rd nationally this week. Rowe and Burau are targeting sub-1:40 times to have an opportunity to be among the top 30 nationally and have a realistic chance at qualifying for NCAAs.
Alex Hotta (100 back, 100 fly), Maxwell Blume (200 breast), Jānis Dzirkalis (50 free), Evan Mackesy (400 IM) and Burau (100 back) also have NCAAs qualifying times this season. All will likely need to improve on those times at Big Tens to be able to qualify for NCAAs as individuals. New this season, any swimmer that wins their conference title in an event with an NCAAs qualifying time receives an automatic bid to the national championship meet.