MINNEAPOLIS – Avery Worobel won bronze in 1-meter diving, medaling on a springboard for the second year in a row, to headline Thursday at the Big Ten Championships for Purdue Women’s Swimming & Diving.
The Boilermakers registered top-3 times in team history in both the 200 freestyle (1.29.78) and 200 medley relays (1:37.37). The 200 free relay team posted the program’s fastest time since the 2013 Big Ten Championships, coming up just .08 hundredths shy of the program record that has stood since 2011. The 200 medley relay team accounted for the program’s fastest time since setting the school record at the 2019 Big Ten Championships.
Worobel paired the 3-meter silver medal she won as a freshman last season with a bronze on 1-meter Thursday. She joined Casey Matthews (2009-10) as Purdue’s female divers to medal at Big Tens in each of her underclassman seasons. Worobel is also the first Boilermaker since Emily Bretscher (2020-21) to medal on a different springboard in consecutive seasons.
The Purdue women have won a diving medal at Big Tens for nine consecutive seasons dating back to 2018.
Daryn Wright joined Worobel in the 1-meter championship final Thursday, finishing in fifth place for her fifth consecutive top-5 showing at Big Tens dating back to winning bronze on platform at the 2024 conference championships when Purdue hosted. The senior is also 10-for-10 in career top-10 finishes at Big Tens.
Senior Kaitlin Simons also scored on 1-meter with a 22nd-place finish in the prelims, joining Wright as four-year scorers at Big Tens. The Boilermakers accounted for 55 team points on 1-meter.
Worobel improved on her prelim score by 30.6 points in the final (319.10). Wright improved on her prelim list by 20.8 points in the final (305.75). Worobel had the top-scoring dive of round 2 (58.50) of the final and posted four scores of 50-plus.
Lara Phipps and Hannah Hill swam on both relays that moved into the top 3 in team history. They teamed up with Abby Marcukaitis and Meghan Sharma on the 200 medley, Ana Rojas and Ava Fasano on the 200 free.
Individually, Rojas moved into seventh place in team history with a lifetime best of 53.42 in the 100 butterfly. Keira Kask was close behind, posting a lifetime best of 53.66 to move into eighth place on the program’s all-time leaderboard.
Caitlin Hurley qualified for the C final of the 200 free to account for a scoring finish in the event.
The Big Ten Championships continue Friday with swimming prelims at 11 a.m. ET, diving prelims at 1 p.m. ET and the finals session at 6 p.m. ET.
TEAM SCORES THROUGH THURSDAY
1.) #4 Michigan 517.5
2.) #6 Indiana 398
3.) #11 Ohio State 390
4.) #15 Wisconsin 384
5.) #12 USC 296
6.) #25 Minnesota 290
7.) #22 UCLA 255
8.) Northwestern 202
9.) Nebraska 184.5
10.) Rutgers 171.5
11.) Purdue 164
12.) Iowa 149
13.) Illinois 114.5
14.) Penn State 106
Worobel Wins Bronze on 1-Meter at Big Tens