Ranked Purdue Squads Trump Northwestern

EVANSTON, Illinois, November 3. SPRINT freestyle specialists Carly Mercer and Danny Tucker once again led the way as the Purdue swimming and diving teams swept a double dual meet at Northwestern Saturday afternoon to complete a busy travel weekend.

The No. 24 Purdue women won 12 of the 16 events on their way to a 187-113 edge in the team scores. The No. 18 Purdue men touched first in 10 of the 16 events to win the day, 172-126.

Both teams also competed Friday evening at Notre Dame. The women swept the Notre Dame-Northwestern weekend for the fourth straight year.

“This is always a tough trip with two quality meets within 24 hours,” women's head coach John Klinge said. “Our swimmers and divers really competed hard all weekend.”

After winning three individual events Friday at UND, Mercer captured the 100 and 200 freestyle and finished second in the 50 free on this day. She also swam the leadoff leg on the victorious 200 free relay team.

Tucker remained perfect in the freestyle sprints this season, sweeping the 50 and 100 free yet again. He also anchored both of the Boilers' victorious relay teams.

Lyam Dias (100 and 200 breaststroke) and Jamie Bissett (1- and 3-meter diving) were also two-time individual winners for the Purdue men. Dias posted Purdue season-best times in the breaststroke events and swam the breaststroke leg on the victorious 400 medley relay team. The sophomore was also the runner-up in the 200 IM as well.

Among the women, Allie Davis, Emily Fogle, Nika Petric and Rhiannon Sheets each won an event and finished as the runner-up in another. Davis and Petric finished one-two in 500 free, Davis winning with a Purdue season-best time. Petric won the 1000 free and Fogle took the 100 breast. Sheets captured the 200 butterfly and finished second to teammate Alex Todd in the 100 fly.

Alec LaMothe also won a race and posted a runner-up finish for the Purdue men. He out touched NU's Jordan Wilimovsky by three one-hundredths of a second in the 500 free and finished second in the 200 free. Brian Kiel won the 100 backstroke and also swam the backstroke leg on the victorious 400 medley relay team.

Francesca Marr cruised to a victory in the 200 breaststroke and was selected as the recipient of the Purdue women's Boilermaker Award after the meet. Colleen Drew (200 back) and Fogle (200 IM) posted season-best times for Purdue while finishing second in their events. Fogle and Sheets also contributed to a relay winner. Lauren Gustafson swam the anchor leg on both victorious relay foursomes, closing out the 200 free relay with a team-best split of 23.19 that allowed the Boilers to win by two tenths of a second.

Chuck Destro finished second by a small margin in a pair of events (100 back and 100 fly). He also swam on both relay winners for the men. MacKenzie Tweardy and Maddie Miskulin teamed up for a sweep of the diving events for the women.

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