Purdue, Notre Dame Women Wage Epic Battle In Rivalry Meet

WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana, November 1. NOTRE Dame’s Emma Reaney won three individual events and posted two B cuts, but it wasn’t enough as the Purdue women edged Notre Dame in another close dual meet between the Indiana rivals. Meanwhile, the Purdue men easily topped Notre Dame to make it a clean sweep for the Boilermakers.

Purdue Press Release

Five Boilermakers won multiple events to lead the Purdue swimming and diving teams to a co-ed dual meet sweep of Notre Dame Friday evening at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center.

The Purdue men won 14 of the 16 events to upset the No. 22 Fighting Irish, 208-92. The Purdue women captured 13 of the 17 points in the final event of the night, the 400 freestyle relay, to pull out a 155.5-144.5 victory, their fifth straight over Notre Dame in the annual dual series. The Purdue women won eight of the 16 events.

Guillermo Blanco was the top performer of the night, winning the 200 backstroke, 200 butterfly and 400 IM. Lyam Dias (100 and 200 breaststroke), Layne Rogers (1- and 3-meter diving) and Danny Tucker (50 and 100 free) swept their event specialties.

Carly Mercer led the way for the women, sweeping the freestyle sprints and swimming the leadoff leg on the victorious 400 free relay. Allie Davis won the 1000 free and also finished second in the 200 and 500 free. Defending 3-meter NCAA champion Casey Matthews won her first competition from the board this season and took second from the 1-meter board. Francesca Marr (100 and 200 breast, 200 IM) posted a trio of second-place finishes.

The Purdue men had at least the top three finishers in four different events — the 50 free, 100 fly, 200 fly and 400 IM. Stephen Seliskar and Austin Flager teamed up for a pair of one-two finishes. Seliskar won the 100 back and Flager the 100 fly; they finished as the runner-up in the other event won by their teammate. Flager contributed to each of Purdue’s top relay teams as well. Fellow freshman Filip Bujoczek also posted first- (500 free) and second-place (200 free) finishes.

The Purdue women had the top three finishers in the 100 free. The trio of Mercer, Grace Hernandez and Rhiannon Sheets also teamed with Carly Marshall for the meet-deciding win in the 400 free relay. Meagan Lim and Lew Gerbrandt teamed up to give the Boilers a one-two finish in the 100 fly. Sheets won the 200 fly and Nika Karlina Petric touched first in the 500 free.

Adam Johnston was the runner-up to Tucker in the 50 free and had the best 50 split (19.38) for the victorious 200 free relay team.

Blanco, Dias and Mercer all posted NCAA provisional qualifying times Friday.

The Purdue men and women compete together at home again next Friday (Nov. 8) for the November Quad meet, which will feature men’s and women’s teams from Northwestern and Ohio State as well as the Iowa men. Action at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center begins at 4 p.m.

Notre Dame Press Release

In what has become an annual dual-meet thriller, Purdue edged out the University of Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team, 155.5-144.5, Friday night at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center despite three individual wins from junior standout Emma Reaney and eight Irish wins total.

The Irish and Boilermakers have competed against each other in an early-season dual meet every year since 2004. Incredible finishes have been the norm for this rivalry as Purdue has won by 11 points or less in three of the last four years with just 25 points separating the two teams in 2010 (155-145), 2012 (152-148) and 2013 (155.5-144.5) combined. Friday night the Irish claimed victory in seven individual events and a relay but couldn’t quite match Purdue in every event.

“Depth gave them the edge tonight for sure,” said head coach Brian Barnes. “But we had several great performances that we are proud of. I was especially happy for Kelly (Ryan), Courtney (Whyte) and Anna (Grainger) as they went 1-2-3 in the 200 back.

“I like how we raced tonight. We were a little low in the water, but that’s a sign of a hard working team. We have had trouble closing out meets so far this season but we are preparing for the spring and the team will learn from this performance.”

Earning wins for the Irish individually were Reaney (200 Free, 100 Breast and 200 Breast), freshman Catherine Mulquin (100 Back), senior Kelly Ryan (200 Back), freshman Katie Miller (200 IM) and junior diving standout Allison Casareto (1-Meter Dive). Notre Dame also claimed the 200 medley relay as Mulquin, Reaney, sophomore Catherine Galletti and Ryan won in 1:42.43.

In addition to a pair of wins, Reaney also notched a couple of NCAA B cuts in the 100 (1:01.94) and 200 (2:13.55) breast events. Miller has gotten off to a hot start in her first collegiate campaign, as she is 2-0 in the 200 IM, having defeated swimmers from Indiana, Auburn and now Purdue.

Also turning in impressive performances and earning runner-up finishes were Miller in the 1,000 free, Ryan in the 100 back, junior Bridget Casey in the 200 fly, Galletti in the 50 free, Whyte in the 200 back and sophomore diver Lindsey Streepey in the 3-meter discipline. The 400 free relay team of Ryan, Mulquin, Genevieve Bradford and Miller also claimed second in a time of 3:28.71.

Notre Dame continues its busy month next Saturday when it gets its first taste of Atlantic Coast Conference action with a double dual against Pitt and Virginia Tech at Trees Pool in Pittsburgh, Pa. The meet time hasn’t been decided, but will be posted on UND.com, Facebook.com/NDwSwimmingDiving and Twitter (@NDwSwimming).

The University of Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving team picked up eight top-two finishes Friday night but was unable maintain the momentum of a fast start, dropping a 208-92 dual meet decision to Purdue at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center.

Senior All-American Frank Dyer (200 freestyle) and junior John Nappi (1,650 freestyle) were each event winners for the No. 22 Irish. Nappi logged a swim of 15:48.15 in the mile for a four-second victory over teammate Kevin Hughes (15:52.19) and the first Notre Dame win of the meet. Dyer touched the wall in 1:38.64 during the 200 free to edge Purdue’s Filip Bujoczek by a mere .14 (1:38.78).

Dyer narrowly missed winning his second race of the competition during the 500 freestyle, tapping the pad in 4:30.26 to finish just off the pace of Bujoczek (4:30.16).

The Notre Dame ‘B’ entry in the 200 medley relay of Matthew Buerger, Colin Babcock, Jack Cobain and Patrick Olson registered a time of 1:32.73 in the opening race of the night to claim runner-up honors.

Junior All-American Zach Stephens narrowly missed an NCAA B-cut in the 100 breaststroke, logging a time of 55.45 in a second-place effort behind Purdue’s Lyam Dias. Dias and Stephens went one-two again in the 200 breast, with Stephens touching the wall in 2:00.21 for his second silver medal of the meet.

Junior James McEldrew registered a 200 backstroke time of 1:50.54 to lead four Notre Dame swimmers in the event, securing runner-up honors behind Boilermaker Guillermo Blanco (1:48.82).

In his second career start, freshman diver Joseph Coumos brought home a pair of silver finishes off both the 1 and 3-meter boards. Coumos scored 363.60 points off the 1-meter board to narrowly place behind Purdue’s Layne Rogers (365.55), before finishing just behind Rogers in the 3-meter event thanks to a 368.93 total.

Notre Dame returns to dual meet competition on Nov. 9 for tri-dual racing with Virginia Tech and host Pittsburgh. The meet start time is contingent upon the yet to be announced Notre Dame versus Pittsburgh football game kickoff time that same day.

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