Aggies, Northwestern at Purdue

WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana, November 3. BOILERMAKER swimming and diving completed its first home weekend of dual competition with mixed results. The Purdue women lost to Northwestern on the final relay 155-146, while the men improved to 3-0 with victories over the Wildcats (190-110) and Texas A&M Aggies (182-115).

The final score of the Purdue and Texas A&M dual was determined by adding each day's point total and dividing it in half. The Boilermakers topped the Aggies on Friday, 181.5-116.5, and nearly duplicated the same result Saturday, 184-114.

The weekend victories over three nationally ranked schools, including Notre Dame, has men's head coach Dan Ross feeling confident in his team's abilities.

"I was very impressed," said Ross. "We lost to Notre Dame and Northwestern up there a year ago so we were determined to make a statement. I didn't expect we'd win by so much, but we're deep in just about every event."

And although her team went 0-2 this weekend, women's head coach Cathy Wright-Eger felt like a winner as well.

"We performed so much better than yesterday, which tells me I have a team of quick learners," said Wright-Eger. "The team responded to the advice we gave them after last night's loss and we were right in this meet until the final relay. I know the score doesn't reflect it, but I felt there were many more positives than negatives."

Purdue women led late in the meet after the diving scores were entered, but Northwestern came back after the final intermission, taking first and second in the 200 individual medley, then clinched it with a 3:26.67 in the 400 freestyle relay.

The Boilermakers' second and third-place points on the final relay were not enough to reclaim the lead, but Wright-Eger was still impressed with the overall effort as the final score hung in the balance.

"On that last relay, six of our eight swimmers were true freshman," said Wright-Eger. "There were two on our 'A' relay and all four were newcomers on the 'B' relay. This team is loaded with potential and it has nowhere to go but up."

Freshman Allie Smith led the Boilermakers once again in the pool, recording her second-consecutive backstroke sweep in as many days.

Smith clocked a 56.48 in the 100 back and a 2:01.97 in the 200. In each race, she beat the remainder of the field by close to a full second.

Senior Nicole Weatherman also finished her weekend series on a high note, winning the 1000 free in 10:10.33 and earning second-place honors in the 500 free with a 4:56.62.

Purdue's best overall event still looks like the breaststroke as the Boilermakers captured three of the top four spots in both the 100 and 200.

Senior Jennifer Lavers won the 100 breast in 1:04.76 while sophomore Leah Pierce captured first in the 200 at 2:22.19. Senior Shannon Grace also scored among the top four in both races.

Purdue diving's toughest competition was themselves. Sophomore Ashley Karnes swept the springboards with 263.60 points on 1-meter and an NCAA zone qualifying total of 293.05 points on 3-meter.

Freshman Kara Cook and junior Emily Wetzel came in second and third behind Karnes on 1-meter. Newcomer Emily Griesemer and Cook rounded out the top three on 3-meter.

In men's diving, David Colturi and Kyle Mitrione each claimed a title. Mitrione held off Northwestern's Alex Kiaie on 3-meter, winning 324.10 to 315.65. Colturi returned the favor on 3-meter, beating his teammate by over 20 points, 335.35 to 313.15.

Both Boilermaker male divers are already qualified for March's NCAA Diving Zones.

Saturday's results from the pool were nearly identical to Friday's as Matt Stewart, John Schmitt, Andrew Langenfeld and Romain Maire were winners for a second-consecutive day.

Schmitt won the 100 and 200 free, while Langenfeld took care of the 50 and Stewart coasted through the 500.

Maire and Ilia Ayzenshtok combined for a one-two sweep in the 200 back, with Maire posting a 1:49.55 to Ayzenshtok's 1:50.14.

Ayzenshtok began the meet swimming leadoff for the victorious 400 medley relay (3:20.04), clocking a 100-yard back split of 50.08. He was joined on the relay by Jin-Soo Kim, Langenfeld and Schmitt.

Special thanks to Purdue for contributing this report.

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