Purdue Swimming And Diving Edges Notre Dame

Photo Credit: Purdue Athletics

SOUTH BEND – The Purdue swimming and diving teams picked up wins in 21 of 32 events Saturday afternoon to top in-state rival Notre Dame on both the men’s (161-139) and women’s sides (170-128). Six different Boilermakers doubled to lead Purdue in the sweep.

Purdue Press Release

Six Boilermakers won multiple individual events to lead the Purdue swimming and diving teams to a co-ed dual meet sweep at Notre Dame Saturday afternoon.

The No. 24 Purdue women won their sixth straight against the Fighting Irish, 170-128. The Purdue men won a tighter 161-139 final for their first win in South Bend since November 2010. The Purdue men have won seven of the last eight dual meets with Notre Dame dating back to the fall of 2007.

The women won 11 of the 16 events and the men 10 of the 16. The Purdue women swept the freestyle events and took the 200 free relay to conclude the meet. The Purdue men clinched the victory with wins in the 200 IM and 400 free relay to end the day.

Jamie Bissett (1- and 3-meter diving), Guillermo Blanco (200 back and 200 IM) and Josh Ehrman (100 and 200 freestyle) won two individual events each for the men. Abby Jagdfeld (100 and 200 free), Kaersten Meitz (500 and 1000 free) and Meagan Lim (100 and 200 fly) did likewise for the women.

Stephen Seliskar’s 100 split of 45.54 as the anchor on the victorious 400 free relay, teaming with Ehrman, Hudson Bursch and Nate Thomas. Together they made the Boilers a winner in the event by .15 hundredths of a second. Seliskar had the top split of the race. He also won the 100 butterfly.

The Purdue women had the top three finishers in four events — the 200, 500 and 1,000 free as well as the 400 IM.

Josh Brooks, Lyam Dias, Mary Beth Dunnichay, Hannah Manger, Nika Karlina Petric and Kylie Vogel all won an event and finished as the runner-up in another. Brooks won the 1,000 free and finished second to Ehrman in the 100 free. Dias touched first in the 100 breast and took second with a sub-two minute time in the 200 breast. Dunnichay was the 1-meter diving winner and the runner-up on 3-meter. Manger took the 200 back after finishing second in the 100 back earlier in the day. Petric demonstrated her versatility by winning the 400 IM and finishing second to Meitz in the 1,000 free. Vogel won the 50 free and was second to Lim in the 100 fly.

Jagdfeld and Vogel were individual winners that also swam on the women’s victorious 200 free relay team. Ehrman and Seliskar did likewise for the men.

Meitz lowered her team-best 1,000 free time (9:55.65) for the third weekend in a row, moving up to fifth place in program history.

There were a number of tight finishes throughout the day, highlighted by four men’s races that were decided by less than a tenth of a second. Seliskar out touched UND’s Jonathan Williamson by one hundredth of a second in the 100 fly. However, he was the odd man out in a three-man finish in the 50 free in which the top three all finished with one hundredth of each other. Brooks out touched UND’s Trent Jackson to win the 200 free by five hundredths of a second. Blanco bested UND’s Zach Stephens in the 200 IM by only five hundredths as well.

The most exciting finish for the women was Lim and Vogel in the 100 fly (one tenth difference). Meitz and Allie Davis also finished a tight one-two in the 500 free (.24 hundredths difference).

The Purdue men are back in action Friday when they host Western Kentucky at 5 p.m. The women are idle until the weekend of Nov. 21-23 when they compete at the Ohio State Invitational.

Notre Dame Women’s Press Release

The University of Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team picked up six wins and showed steady improvement virtually across the board in a 170-128 dual-meet loss to No. 24 Purdue at Rolfs Aquatic Center Saturday afternoon.

Despite the final outcome, Irish interim head coach Tim Welsh was pleased with the improvement the Irish (2-4) showed throughout the meet.

“Today was very positive for us,” said Welsh. “What happened in this meet was we saw dramatic improvement across the board. It’s exciting for us after some really hard weeks of training and travel. To see improvement happening was a very encouraging sign. It started from the first event with the 200 medley relay. I was very pleased with the whole day.”

Perhaps the biggest win of the day came on the boards as junior Lindsey Streepey won the 3-meter with 313.28 points.

“Purdue diving is always extremely good,” said Welsh. “Its lead 3-meter diver is a former Olympian in the 10-meter synchronized diving event.

“If you look at their best scores coming into the meet, her (Dunnichay) point total was better than Lindsey’s. But it was a wonderful performance by Lindsey that really helped re-energize the team again and put the meet to within a three or four point spread.”

The Irish got off to a spectacular start to the meet, as the 200 medley relay squad of Catherine Mulquin, Emma Reaney, Courtney Whyte and Catherine Galletti claimed first by over a second in 1:42.16.

Elsewhere, Mulquin won the 100 back (55.98) and Reaney claimed both breaststroke events in NCAA B cut times. She swam the 100 in 1:00.90 and the 200 in 2:14.16.

With Purdue exhibitioning the finale, the Irish squad of Genevieve Heidkamp, Danielle Margheret, Genevieve Bradford and Elizabeth House won the 200 free relay in 1:39.68.

Mulquin finished second in the 50 free (23.69), while Galletti claimed second in the 100 free (51.46) and Whyte touched the pad in the runner-up spot in the 200 back (2:04.06). Other second place finishes included Danielle Margheret in the 100 breast and senior diver Allison Casareto on the 1-meter board (301.80).

In the 200 breast, freshman Sherri McIntee placed third with an improved time of 2:17.16 and earned praise from Welsh.

“Sherri has improved in the 200 breaststroke by a second the last three meets,” said the veteran coach. “That’s exciting and very encouraging.”

Notre Dame welcomes in Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh to Rolfs Aquatic Center next weekend for a two-day Atlantic Coast Conference meet. Action gets underway at 5 p.m. Friday and will continue at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Notre Dame Men’s Press Release

The University of Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving team lost to Purdue at home Saturday afternoon, 161-139. The Irish are now 1-1 on the year.

“We swam hard and raced well, but at the same time, we need to make sure we do all of the fundamentals a little bit better,” Irish head coach Matt Tallman says. “There were enough instances which could have made a difference in today’s meet where if we had just been a little smarter throughout the race, the end result might have been different.”

The Irish got off to an impressive start as the 200 medley relay team of Bogac Ayhan, Cameron Miller, Justin Platschka and Zach Stephens came in first with a 1:30.72 mark. The Irish earned runner-up status in the next two events, with Kevin Bradley finishing the 1,000 free in 9:31.97 and Trent Jackson clocking in at 1:40.50 in the 200 free.

After a timing system failure and some dispute on splits, the results of the 100 back had the Irish taking first, third and fifth place – Ayhan clinched first with his 50.16 time, while Rob Whitacre touched in third with a 50.60 time and Tom Anderson finished fifth in 51.31.

In 100 breast, Notre Dame finished second, third and fourth. Miller had the top time with his 55.53 posting but not far behind was fellow senior Patrick Olson, 56.81. Rounding out the top three finishes for the Irish was Andrew Jensen, who touched the wall in 57.22 seconds.

In the 200 fly, school record holder Jonathan Williamson demonstrated his prowess in the pool with a first place finish of 1:48.26. Bradley finished fourth (1:54.16), while Broderick Kelley finished fifth (1:54.91) and Matthew DeBlasio came in sixth (1:55.25).

In both the 50 free and 100 fly, the difference between first and second came down to .01 of a second – Stephens out-touched his Irish teammate Plaschka in the 50 free (Stephens, 21.04, Plaschka, 21.05) and Williamson lost out to Purdue’s Stephen Seliskar, 49.35 to 49.36. In the 50 free, freshmen Joseph Krause and Gabe Ostler finished fifth and sixth, while in the 100 fly Olson finished fourth (50.20) and Kelley came in fifth (52.02).

In the 100 free, the Irish finished third through sixth with Plaschka earning the top time, 46.72.

In the 200 back, Anderson came in second with his 1:51.04 mark, and Ayhan clinched fourth place with his 1:51.83 performance. James McEldrew finished fifth, touching the wall in 1:52.19. In the 200 breast, Stephens – the school record holder both in the 100 and 200 events – came in first a mere .05 of a second faster than his Purdue counterpart, boasting a 1:59.68 finish. Miller finished third, touching the wall in 2:04.70.

In the 500 free, freshman Benjamin Jany won in his first outing with the Irish, clocking in at 4:35.66.

Stephens and Purdue’s Gillermo Blanco swam neck and neck next to each other in the 200 IM, with Blanco edging ahead 1:48.46 over Stephen’s 1:48.51 time. In the last event of the dame, Notre Dame’s `A’ and `B’ 400 free relay teams took second and third. The A lineup of Plaschka, Jackson, Reed Fujan and Bradley finished in 3:04.74 compared to the B team’s (Jany, Krause, Harlin Bessire and Ostler) 3:07.16 time.

Over on the diving boards the Boilermakers came out on top in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events, but the Irish gave them a run for their money in both events. Joseph Coumos came in second in the 1-meter (339.30) and fourth in the 3-meter (353.40).

Seniors Nick Nemetz and Ted Wagner were both impressive against Purdue, with Nemetz finishing fourth in the 1-meter (314.78) and third in the 3-meter (363.60). Wagner came in sixth in the 1-meter (304.57) and dove for exhibition in the 3-meter (311.32).

Sophomore James Lichtenstein and freshman Peter Myers came in seventh and ninth in the 1-meter respectively. Lichtenstein came in sixth in the 3-meter (316.50) whereas Myers finished seventh (315.30).

Looking ahead, the Irish are next in the water against Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech next weekend, as they welcome the Panthers and Hokies to the Rolfs Aquatic Center Nov. 7 and 8.

“What we did today doesn’t take away from the fact that in a lot of instances, we swam faster than we normally have at this point of the season,” says Tallman. “To reiterate, the things we slipped up on today, we work harder at and be prepared for next week.”

Results: Purdue vs. Notre Dame

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