Purdue vs. Michigan State

EAST LANSING, Michigan, January 15. THE Purdue swimming and diving teams split a double dual meet at Michigan State Saturday afternoon, the women's team winning behind a bevy of event winners while the shorthanded men suffered their first dual meet loss of the year.

The Boilermaker women were victorious, 168-126, improving to 5-0 in dual meets this season. Even without their full travel roster, the Purdue men were competitive but lost, 164.5-135.5. The men's top eight swimmers and diver J.P. Perez are currently in Dallas competing at the Classic at SMU.

"This is an exciting weekend for Purdue swimming and diving with competitions on three different campuses," women's coach John Klinge said. "The men's team raced really well in Dallas last night and started the weekend off great for us. Both the men and women raced very hard against Michigan State today and I'm sure the men well continue to swim well in Dallas tonight and against Michigan in Ann Arbor tomorrow.

"This weekend is really a culmination of three really good weeks of swimming for us. We had some good races today and everyone fought hard throughout the meet. Now it's time to gear up for a couple more weeks of fast swimming as a tune up for our Big Ten Championships."

"In swimming and diving we don't get rewarded or demoted like other sports by winning or losing dual meets," men's coach Dan Ross said. "It doesn't garner us a better seed for the postseason or determine our postseason fate. We do, however, learn something of our character through the fight to win dual meets. That character is what defines us and ultimately determines our fate in the big meets in February and March. This weekend is all about character. Even though we were beaten by Michigan State today, our guys showed great character and poise racing a good team with a split squad."

The Boilermakers had five competitors win a pair of individual events. For the men, David Boudia kept his unbeaten season alive, winning the 1- (415.87) and 3-meter (434.69) diving while establishing new record scores at MSU's McCaffree Pool in both events.

Danny Tucker and Drew Wolfred also enjoyed successful days. Tucker swept the sprint freestyle events, winning the 50 (21.10) and 100 (46.23). Wolfred captured the 500 free (4:34.70) and 400 individual medley (4:03.54), and also swam the anchor leg on the victorious 400 free relay team (305.32). He nearly won three events, but finished one one-hundredth of a second behind MSU's Pat Falconer in the 200 free. Luke Trimmer, Chris Pfaff and Mark Boman teamed up with Wolfred on the winning relay.

For the women, Jessica Skiba swept the distance freestyle races, winning the 500 (5:03.26) and 1,000 (10:16.91). Erin Mertz was victorious in both the 1- (304.87) and 3-meter (334.35) diving.

Ariel Martin was the lone Boilermaker to post a new season top time for either program, improving on her 100 free (50.62) mark while winning the event. She also swam on the 200 medley (1:45.87) and 400 free relay (3:28.76) teams that posted the best times of the day.

Lisa Butler, Colleen Drew, Emily Fogle, Lauren Gustafson and Lauren Nichols each posted an individual victory and were part of a top-performing relay. Butler won the 200 free (1:50.20), Drew the 200 back (2:01.96), Fogle the 200 breast (2:17.60), Gustafson the 100 back (59.04) and Nichols the 50 free (23.49). Lauren Roth was the final individual winner for the Boilermakers, touching first in the 200 fly (2:02.25).

Drew, Fogle and Butler teamed with Martin on the 200 medley relay, while Gustafson and Nichols were part of the 400 free relay with Nora Brolsma and Martin.

The Purdue men remain in the Great Lakes State to take on Michigan in Ann Arbor Sunday at 5 p.m. The Boilermakers currently in Dallas will compete tonight and fly back to the Midwest Sunday morning to join their teammates for the dual with Michigan.

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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