Michigan State vs. Purdue

WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana, January 14. SENIORS Kristen Gilson, Wyatt Hodges and Lauren Roth were among the two-time individual winners on the day, leading the Purdue swimming and diving teams to a double dual meet sweep of Michigan State on Senior Recognition Day at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center Saturday afternoon.
The 20th-ranked Purdue men won 180.5-107.5. The 18th-ranked Purdue women were a 176-124 winner.

Danny Tucker and Jamie Bissett joined Gilson, Hodges and Roth as two-time individual winners.

For the women, Gilson swept the backstroke events, winning the 200 by more than three seconds. Roth captured the 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly.

Hodges and Tucker led the way for the men by sweeping their individual specialties and contributing to a relay winner. Hodges and Joe Wulf finished one-two in both breaststroke events and Hodges also swam the breaststroke leg on the victorious 200 medley relay team. Tucker capture the 50 and 100 freestyle sprints and swam the anchor on the top-finishing 200 free relay team. His time of 20.25 in the 50 was Purdue’s second-fastest this season.

Although there were only two males divers competing on the day, Bissett did win both the 1-meter and 3-meter with a pair of personal season-best scores.

Luke Trimmer and Vinny Donnelly were involved in the most hotly-contested finishes of the day. Trimmer used a strong kick to rally for a win in the 1,000 free, out touching MSU’s by .19 hundredths of a second. Donnelly took third by two tenths of a second in the same event. Trimmer later finished second to Andrew Starr in the 500 free. His time in the 1000 was a personal season-best by nearly 12 seconds.

Both Purdue teams also had newcomers that joined the programs for the start of the spring semester win an event. Spaniard Guillermo Blanco won the 400 individual medley by seven seconds while also taking second in the 100 backstroke. Englishwoman Francesca Marr, who arrived on campus for the first time Monday, won the 200 breaststroke.

Emily Fogle (400 IM), Lauren Nichols (50 free) and Rhiannon Sheets (500 free) won an individual event and contributed to a relay win. Carly Mercer and Sheets swam on both relay winners for the women.

Chuck Destro and Ben Ziolkowski also swam on both relay winners for the men.

The Boilermakers return to action next Saturday (Jan. 21) for the annual rivalry dual meet against Indiana. The co-ed dual in Bloomington will be televised live by the Big Ten Network, marking the first live swimming telecast on the network. Platform diving will begin at 10 a.m. and the swimming events will start at 11:30 a.m. in conjunction with the live telecast.

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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