Boilers Set 9 Records as 19 Score at Big Tens

MADISON, Wis. – Max Miller’s gold medal in 1-meter diving and six team records highlighted a much-improved showing for Purdue Men’s Swimming & Diving as 19 Boilermakers scored in an individual event at the Big Ten Championships.

Purdue posted 13 NCAA Championships qualifying times in the swimming events, headlined by an NCAAs automatic qualifying time (1:23.10) in the 200 medley relay to begin the meet. It was the first of six team records to fall, breaking a record that had stood since 2021. The Boilermakers also eclipsed three of the team’s freshman benchmarks.

Led by the divers, Purdue had six student-athletes score in all three of their individual events as the Boilers improved their final point total by 186 points (from 597 to 783) while moving up from eighth place the last two years to sixth. The 783 points were the team’s most since last hosting Big Tens in 2022 (821).

Miller won Purdue’s first Big Ten title on 1-meter since coach David Boudia did so in 2011. Tyler Wills medaled on platform for the second year in a row, upgrading his bronze as a freshman to silver as a sophomore. But it was freshman Nathaniel Grannis that led the team in scoring with 69 points while finishing top 9 in all three diving events. Grannis was a championship finalist on both 3-meter and platform while also winning the 1-meter consolation final. He became the first freshman to lead Purdue in scoring at Big Tens since Tyler Downs and Jordan Rzepka shared the honor in 2022.

Holden Higbie was victorious in the consolation finals of 3-meter and platform to give the Boilermakers a sweep of diving’s consolation finals. The Boilermakers also won three consolation/B finals at Big Tens in 2012, 2017, 2018 and 2022, but had never swept the three diving consols before.

Evan Mackesy eclipsed his own team record in the 400 individual medley and also broke the team’s 500 freestyle benchmark that had stood since 2018. Mackesy is in good shape to earn a bid to represent Purdue individually at the NCAA Championships – posting NCAAs qualifying times in all three of his events (200 & 400 IM, 500 free).

Kaden Springfield and Alex Hotta joined Grannis, Wills, Higbie and Mackesy as Boilermakers to score in all three of their individual events. Purdue only had two athletes – both seniors – achieve that feat at Big Tens a year ago.

PURDUE’S TOP MOMENTS AT BIG TENS
Medalists • Max Miller – Big Ten Champion/Gold on 1-Meter • Tyler Wills – Silver on Platform Purdue Freshman Records • Jānis Dzirkalis – 19.08 (Q) in 50 Free • Jonah Lee – 52.76 in 100 Breast • Biko Hooper-Haviland – 1:43.60 (Q) in 200 Fly	Team Records • 200 Medley Relay – 1:23.10 (A) …Hotta, Byrd, Thomas, Dzirkalis • Jānis Dzirkalis – 19.08 (Q) in 50 Free • Blake Rowe – 1:40.45 (Q) in 200 Back • Biko Hooper-Haviland – 1:43.60 (Q) in 200 Fly • Evan Mackesy – 3:40.95 (Q) in 400 IM • Evan Mackesy – 4:14.85 (Q) in 500 Free
(Q) = NCAA Championships Qualifying Time

 

MORE CAREER BESTS TO MOVE UP/JOIN PURDUE RECORD BOOK
• Alex Hotta – 45.38 (Q), 2nd in 100 Back • Maxwell Blume – 52.35 (Q), 2nd in 100 Breast • Evan Mackesy – 1:43.42 (Q), 2nd in 200 IM • 200 Free Relay – 1:16.51 (B), 2nd …Thomas, Dzirkalis, Hotta, Burau • 800 Free Relay – 6:22.82, 2nd …Mackesy, Hooper-Haviland, Burau, Cole • Jānis Dzirkalis – 42.75, 3rd in 100 Free • Maxwell Blume – 1:53.18 (Q), 3rd in 200 Breast • 400 Medley Relay – 3:06.63, 3rd …Hotta, Blume, Hooper-Haviland, Dzirkalis • Raymond Whittaker – 52.63, 4th in 100 Breast • 400 Free Relay – 2:50.92, 4th …Dzirkalis, Thomas, Hotta, Cole	• Jonah Lee – 52.76, 5th in 100 Breast • Blake Rowe – 46.75, 5th in 100 Back • Alexander Cole – 1:35.26, 6th in 200 Free • Nathaniel Thomas – 43.13, 7th in 100 Free • Raymond Whittaker – 1:55.16, 7th in 100 Back • Holden Higbie – 440.25, 9th on 3-Meter • Jonah Lee – 1:56.88, 11th in 200 Breast • Nathaniel Thomas – 47.20, 11th in 100 Fly • Jonny Hines – 15:21.79, 11th in 1650 Free • Jonny Hines – 4:24.12, 12th in 500 Free • Tyler Wills – 436.45, 12th on Platform • Lucas Byrd – 53.59, 13th in 100 Breast • Walker Mattice – 1:36.44, 14th in 200 Free
(Q) = NCAA Championships Qualifying Time

 

Jānis Dzirkalis joined Grannis on the Big Ten All-Freshman Team after finishing fourth in the 50 free while shattering the Purdue record with a time of 19.08. He was also top 10 in the 100 free as the runner-up in the B final. As Purdue’s top performer on relays, Dzirkalis posted the program’s fastest 50 (18.41) and 100 (41.16) relay splits ever.

Biko Hooper-Haviland joined Dzirkalis as Boilermakers to simultaneously set team and freshman records. Hooper-Haviland (1:43.60) took down the team’s 200 butterfly benchmark (1:43.82) that had stood since the 2010 NCAA Championships.

Like Mackesy, Blake Rowe (1:40.45) eclipsed his own team record in the 200 backstroke and has now lowered Purdue’s top mark in the event by a full second this season. Rowe joined Dzirkalis and Hotta as Boilermakers to race for Big Ten titles as A finalists. Rowe was an A finalist in the 200 back each of his underclassman seasons.

Led by Granis and Wills, who both finished top 10 in all three diving events, the Boilermakers accounted for 10 top 10s in the dive well. Purdue was the top-scoring team in diving by a wide margin and the Boilers’ top three scoring events were in the dive well, headlined by having four of the top nine on platform for 98 team points.

Miller was Purdue’s first Big Ten champion on a springboard since Greg Duncan won on 3-meter in 2020. The Boilermakers had different divers win medals on a springboard and the tower for the second year in a row.

With Purdue’s 200 medley relay having qualified for NCAAs and the 200 free relay team achieving an NCAA provisional qualifying time (B Cut) while coming up just .01 hundredth shy of the team record, the Boilermakers will also be able to race in the 200 free relay at the national championship meet.

Selected Purdue swimmers are opting to race again this weekend at Indiana’s NCAA Last Chance meet. The divers are back in action March 9-11 at the Zone C Championships, the annual NCAA Championships qualifier. The men’s NCAA Championships are set for March 25-28 in Atlanta.

PURDUE’S TOP SCORERS & TOP-SCORING INDIVIDUAL EVENTS

1.) Nathaniel Grannis – 69 Points 3-Meter – 5th in A Final (25 Points) Platform – 6th in A Final (24 Points) 1-Meter – Won B Final (20 Points) 2.) Tyler Wills – 62 Points Platform – 2nd in A Final (28 Points) 1-Meter – 2nd in B Final (17 Points) 3-Meter – 2nd in B Final (17 Points) 3.) Holden Higbie – 56 Points 3-Meter – Won B Final (20 Points) Platform – Won B Final (20 Points) 1-Meter – 3rd in B Final (16 Points) 4.) Evan Mackesy – 51 Points 400 IM – Won B Final (20 Points) 500 Free – 3rd in B Final (16 Points) 200 IM – 4th in B Final (15 Points) 5.) Jānis Dzirkalis – 43 Points 50 Free – 4th in A Final (26 Points) 100 Free – 2nd in B Final (17 Points) T-6.) Alex Hotta – 41 Points 100 Back – 8th in A Final (22 Points) 100 Fly – 6th in B Final (13 Points) 100 Free – 3rd in C Final (6 Points) T-6.) Max Miller – 41 Points 1-Meter – Big Ten Champ (32 Points) 3-Meter – 17th in Prelim (9 Points)

1.) Platform Diving – 98 Points (4 of Top 9) 4 Scorers – Wills, Springfield, Grannis, Higbie 2.) 1-Meter Diving – 94 Points (4 of Top 11) 5 Scorers – Miller, Grannis, Wills, Higbie, Springfield 3.) 3-Meter Diving – 76 Points (3 of Top 10) 5 Scorers – Grannis, Higbie, Wills, Miller, Springfield 4.) 50 Free – 42 Points 2 Scorers – Dzirkalis, Thomas 5.) 200 Back – 37 Points 2 Scorers – Rowe, Burau 6.) 100 Breast – 35 Points 3 Scorers – Blume, Whittaker, J. Lee 7.) 100 Free – 33 Points 3 Scorers – Dzirkalis, Thomas, Hotta 8.) 100 Back – 22 Points 1 Scorer – Hotta 9.) 400 IM – 20 Points 1 Scorer – Mackesy 10.) 200 Breast – 18 Points 2 Scorers – Blume, Whittaker Swam on Most Relays Janis Dzirkalis – 4 Alex Hotta – 4 Nathaniel Thomas – 3 Dylan Burau – 2 Alexander Cole – 2 Biko Hooper-Haviland – 2

 

ACTIVE CAREER SCORING LEADERS AT BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS
Boilermaker	Career Points	2026	2025	2024	2023
Tyler Wills	103	62	41	NA	NA
Holden Higbie	96	56	DNC	40	NA
Max Miller	87	41	29	17	NA
Kaden Springfield	80	40	40	NA	NA
Nathaniel Grannis	69	69	NA	NA	NA
Evan Mackesy	66	51	15	NA	NA
Blake Rowe	52	25	27	NA	NA
Zach Welsh	44	DNC	44	NA	NA
Jānis Dzirkalis	43	43	NA	NA	NA
Maxwell Blume	42	30	12	--	NA
Alex Hotta	41	41	NA	NA	NA
Dylan Burau	40.5	12	DNC	27	1.5
Nathaniel Thomas	32	25	--	7	NA
Raymond Whittaker	28	17	8	3	--
Pat Broderick	20	DNC	7	13	NA
Biko Hooper-Haviland	11	11	NA	NA	NA