Purdue Invitational: Boilermaker Women, Northwestern Men Secure Victories

Purdue Invitational: Boilermaker Women, Northwestern Men Secure Victories

Purdue’s women grabbed three wins and while the Northwestern men had five victories on the final night of the Purdue Invitational in West Lafayette, Ind., and those two teams each secured the overall meet titles. Purdue scored 1093.5 points to win convincingly over Northwestern (747) and Illinois (469), while the Northwestern men wracked up 1047.5 points to beat out Purdue (886.5) and McKendree (603).

Purdue’s Caitlin Hurley pulled away for the win in the women’s 1650 freestyle, touching in 16:41.69, about two seconds ahead of teammate Reagan Mattice (16:43.60). Illinois’ Paloma Canos Cervera placed third in 16:47.10. Later on, Purdue pulled off a 1-2-3 sweep in the 200 butterfly. Cecilie Wiuff grabbed the win in 1:59.10, and teammate Madeline Greaves took second in 1:59.67 ahead of early leader Brinly Hardy (1:59.79). Platform diving was also the domain of Purdue, with Daryn Wright winning with a score of 313.20 ahead of teammates Maycey Vieta (305.00) and Sophia McAfee (283.20).

Northwestern’s Ayla Spitz trailed Southern Illinois’ Celia Pulido by six tenths halfway through the 200 backstroke, but Spitz was the fastest swimmer by a second on each of the final two 50s. Spitz touched in 1:53.48, with Pulido touching almost two seconds back in 1:55.30 and Northwestern’s Justine Murdock placing third in 1:56.15. Lindsay Ervin made it back-to-back wins for the Northwestern women as she came in at 49.03 in the 100 free ahead of Missouri State’s Jordan Wenner (49.64) and Purdue’s Kendra Brown (49.98).

Northwestern’s Maggie Papanicholas was eight tenths behind Southern Illinois’ Olivia Herron entering the last two lengths before Papanicholas came home in a blistering 32.65 to take the lead and steal away the win in 2:12.09. Herron was second in 2:13.79, with Illinois State’s Madyson Morse rounding out the top three (2:14.10).

The Northwestern team of Spitz, Ervin, Audrey Yu and Sydney Smith captured first place in the 400 free relay in 3:17.45, followed by the Purdue team of Brown, Maggie Love, Hurley and Kendal Schreder (3:18.88). Third went to Missouri State’s Lana Lanson, Jordan Wenner, Anna Lucas and Sami Roemer (3:21.73).

The men’s 1650 free saw Northwestern’s Andrew Martin slip under 15:00 as he touched in 14:58.19, beating runnerup Chris Davidson of McKendree by more than 22 seconds. Davidson touched in 15:20.52, and Missouri State’s Dylan Moffatt took third in 15:23.86. The Wildcats then pulled off a 1-3 finish in the men’s 200 back, with David Grechik going wire-to-wire to win in 1:41.92 and Tyler Lu grabbing third (1:44.29). Purdue’s Dylan Burau split the difference in 1:43.22.

The third Northwestern win belonged to Matthew Lucky, who finished well to beat Purdue’s Coleman Modglin in the 200 breast, 1:56.60 to 1:57.09. Purdue’s Maxwell Blume was third in 1:57.73. Later on, Adam Cohen won platform diving for Northwestern at 298.55, just ahead of Purdue’s Holden Higbie (295.50), with Northwestern’s Ryan Augustine third (270.55).

The Boilermaker men got on the board when Brady Samuels held off charging Northwestern swimmer Caden Duncan, 42.58 to 42.80. Well back in third was Southern Illinois’ Alex Santiago (43.47).

In the evening’s final individual event, McKendree’s Jack Lustig claimed a dominant win in 1:42.78, two seconds off the NCAA Division II record he set last season but more than two seconds quicker than any other DII swimmer swam at last year’s championships. Saturday evening in West Lafayette, Northwestern teammates Diego Nosak (1:44.56) and Tona Zinn (1:45.91) placed second and third, respectively.

Northwestern got back on top to wrap up the meet. Southern Illinois had the lead for the first 350 yards of the 400 free relay, but Duncan split 42.22 to pull the Wildcats into the lead by the finish. Jan Michal Karolchak, Connor Schuster, Ben Forbes and Duncan combined for a time of 2:54.04. The Salukis’ Donat Csuvarszki, Santiago, Alex Cimera and Jered Moore took second in 2:54.88, while McKendree’s Alireza Yavari, Caleb Law, Arthur Souza and Tyson Upton took third in 2:55.69.

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