Worobel Wins Big Ten Title on 3M; Wright Claims Bronze

MINNEAPOLIS – Avery Worobel became Purdue Women’s Swimming & Diving’s newest Big Ten champion Friday, teaming with Daryn Wright to give the Boilermakers a pair of medalists in 3-meter diving at the Big Ten Championships.

Worobel won gold and Wright bronze on 3-meter as the Purdue women had a multiple medalists in a springboard diving event at Big Tens for the third time in program history. Worobel medaled for the second night in a row after claiming bronze on 1-meter Thursday. She also upgraded on her silver medal on 3-meter as a freshman from a year ago. The sophomore was victorious even while diving first among the eight competitors in the championship final.

Senior Abby Marcuakitis eclipsed the program record in the 100 backstroke that she had been on the cusp of dating back to January 2025. She posted a time of 52.70 in the B final Friday to break Jackie Smailis’ team record (52.72) that had stood since March 2019. Marcukaitis is now the program record holder in the 100 and 200 back, eclipsing Smailis’ records in both events.

Amie Perna (53.81, 5th in 100 back) and Reagan Mattice (4:45.91, 10th in 500 free) posted lifetime bests in the prelims and finals Friday, moving up on Purdue’s all-time leaderboards. Mattice is now top 10 in all three distance events (500, 1000, 1650 free). She scored in the B final and Perna the C final.

DIVING NOTABLES
• Worobel is the Purdue women’s first Big Ten champion since Maycey Vieta (platform) in 2023 and the first on a springboard since Emily Bretscher (3-meter) in 2020. Like Worobel, Bretscher also won gold on 3-meter and bronze on 1-meter in 2020. Bretscher (2020 and 2021) had been the last Boilermaker to medal on 3-meter in consecutive seasons.
• Worobel is the Purdue women’s first underclassman to win a Big Ten title since Kara Cook won on platform as a freshman in 2008.
• Wright won her third career Big Ten medal and first on a springboard. She medaled at Big Tens for the third consecutive season, joining Maggie Merriman (2020-23), MacKenzie Tweardy (2013-15) and Carrie McCambridge (2004-06) as Purdue’s female divers to achieve the feat.
• Worobel and Wright have joined Ashley Karnes (gold) and Casey Matthews (bronze) on 1-meter and 2009 as well as Matthews (gold) and Mary Beth Dunnichay (bronze) on 1-meter in 2014 among the Purdue teammates to medal on a springboard in the same year.
• Worobel improved on her list score by 70.6 points in the final, moving into 11th place in program history with a career-best list of 364.60 in the final. She earned the final berth in the championship final by .05 hundredths of a point in the prelim and then won the Big Ten title by 1.8 points over Minnesota’s Elna Widerstrom, who had won gold on 1-meter Thursday and was also the top qualifier in Friday’s prelim.
• Wright improved to 11-to-11 in career top-10 finishes at Big Tens and also posted her sixth consecutive top-5 showing at Big Tens dating back to platform in 2024.
• Worobel finished top 4 on both springboard events at Big Tens as an underclassman, winning three medals – Friday’s gold giving her one of each color.

The Boilermakers closed out Friday’s finals session with a time of 3.37.27 in the 400 medley relay, good for eighth in team history. Marcuakitis teamed with Meghan Sharma, Ana Rojas and Lara Phipps in the relay. Phipps has raced on four relays at Big Tens for the second year in a row.

Kaitlin Simons teamed with Worobel and Wright to give Purdue three scorers in a springboard diving event for the second day in a row. Simons was a consolation finalist on 3-meter Friday. The Boilermakers earned 70 team points on 3-meter.

Maddie Phillips registered a lifetime best (and team season best) of 2:15.61 in a 200 breaststroke time trial Friday, moving into 13th place in program history.

The Big Ten Championships conclude Saturday 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 FRIDAY
1.) #4 Michigan 883
2.) #11 Ohio State 714.5
3.) #6 Indiana 694
4.) #15 Wisconsin 650
5.) #12 USC 516.5
6.) #25 Minnesota 489
7.) #22 UCLA 423.5
8.) Purdue 301
9.) Northwestern 295
10.) Nebraska 277.5
11.) Rutgers 265.5
12.) Iowa 215
13.) Penn State 162
13.) Illinois 149.5