Purdue Invitational, Day One

WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana, November 19. THANKS to a team victory in the 200 freestyle relay and individual victories from Andrew Starr in the 500 free and David Boudia in the 1-meter dive, Purdue men's swimming and diving leads the way after the opening day of competition at the three-day Purdue Invitational at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center.

The Boilermaker women are in fourth place (of eight) in a tightly bunched top four. Purdue (165.5) trails third-place Ohio State (167.5) by only two points and Invitational-leading Arkansas (224.5) by just 57.

The Boilermaker men (295) have an 84-point lead over second-place Ohio State (211) in the six-team competition.

Action resumes at 10 a.m. Saturday with morning preliminaries.

The Purdue men dominated the 1-meter dive, accumulating 68 points in the event thanks to having the top four finishers. Boudia (415.10) led the way, followed by J.P. Perez (344.05), Danny Cox (318.80) and Jimmy Page (310.65). Perez improved on his NCAA Zone qualifying score and Page hit the mark for the first time this year.

Starr won the 500 free with a season-best time (4:26.69) by a Boilermaker that doubled as an NCAA provisional qualifier. Purdue had three of the top four finishers, with Matt Stewart (4:29.00) taking third and Drew Wolfred (4:29.42) fourth. Wolfred had posted the top time (4:29.67) in the morning preliminaries.

For the women, Allie Smith won the 200 individual medley by three one-hundredths of a second, posting a season-best time (2:01.45) by a Boilermaker that also doubled as an NCAA provisional qualifier.

While Smith won a close race, Chuck Destro had to settle for second place in a photo finish in the 50 free. He finished one-hundredth of a second (20.48) behind Southern Illinois' Justin Wolfe (20.47). Destro, who posted the top time in the morning preliminaries, did manage to record a new season-best time in the 50 free for Purdue.

Danny Tucker (20.68) finished fourth in the A final of the 50 free and the Boilermakers dominated the B final. Led by Benjamin Ziolkowski (20.77), Purdue had the top four finishers. Phil Geerdes (20.87), Steven Ung (21.02) and Ben Wachtel (21.04) were all close behind.

Destro, Wachtel, Geerdes and Matte Friede teamed up to help Purdue win the 200 free relay, posting a new season-best time (1:21.10) as well as an NCAA provisional mark. Though it was not allowed to score points, the 200 free B relay team of Ung, Noah Pashley, Ziolkowski and Tucker posted the third best time (1:21.90) of the night.

Lauren Roth was the runner-up in the 500 free, posting a new season-best time (4:44.29) for the Boilermakers and improving on her previous NCAA provisional qualifier. Caitlin Hamilton (4:46.49) won the B final of the 500 free and also eclipsed her NCAA qualifier from last weekend. Among the men, meanwhile, Mark Boman was able to win the C final of the 500 free.

Other season-best times for Purdue came from Brian Kiel (1:52.10) in the 200 IM and Ariel Martin (23.26) in the 50 free. Kiel took third in his event, while Martin posted her mark in the morning preliminaries.

Erin Mertz (333.65) and Kara Cook (300.60) did their part on the boards for the women, finishing second and third, respectively, in the 3-meter dive. Cook improved on her NCAA Zone qualifying score.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

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