2021 Purdue Invite
- Thursday, November 18 – Saturday, November 20, 2021
- Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center, West Lafayette, Indiana
- SCY (25y)
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
- Results on Meet Mobile: “Purdue Invite 2021”
The 2021 Purdue Invite got underway on Thursday in West Lafayette, Ind., with Northwestern, Louisville, Purdue and Missouri State all grabbing top seeds in the first preliminary session.
50 Free Highlights
The women’s 50 freestyle saw a blazing-fast performance from Missouri State graduate senior Anna Miller, who broke her own program record in a time of 22.16 for the top seed.
Miller set the previous MSU record of 22.29 at the 2021 Missouri Valley Conference Championships in April.
A total of seven swimmers broke 23 seconds in the heats, with Louisville’s Gabi Albiero (22.49) and Northwestern’s Maddie Smith (22.58) sitting second and third.
In the men’s 50 free, Purdue freshman Brady Samuels threw down a lifetime best of 19.58 to qualify first, with teammates Nikola Acin (19.75) and Idris Muhammad (19.89) sitting second and third.
Samuels lowers his previous best of 19.72 set while he was in high school, while his previous fastest swim this season was the 19.87 he produced against Mizzou and Michigan two weeks ago.
500 Free Highlights
Northwestern’s Lola Mull led a 1-2-3 finish for the Wildcats in the women’s 500 free prelims, clocking 4:45.81 to come within a half-second of her fastest-ever showing in college. Mull swam to a season-best of 4:45.31 at the 2021 NCAA Championships as a freshman, with her personal best of 4:43.35 still standing from December 2017.
Her teammates Ally Larson (4:50.82) and Yulia Groysman (4:50.91) advanced in second and third, while Louisville’s Liberty Williams, the top seed coming in with her 4:44.05 swim from last season, only advanced through in eighth at 4:55.60.
In the men’s 500 free, Connor LaMastra, who transferred to Northwestern in the summer of 2020 after three years at Dartmouth, claimed the top seed in 4:22.86, followed by Missouri State’s Pawel Krawczyk (4:23.67).
LaMastra was the 2020 Ivy League runner-up in a best time of 4:18.68, and hit a season-best of 4:19.54 at last year’s Big Tens.
Louisville’s Hayden Curley came in as the top seed by a wide margin but only qualified sixth in 4:26.57.
200 IM Highlights
Louisville’s Abby Hay registered a very solid 1:57.78 to lead the women’s 200 IM prelims, with teammate Tristen Ulett (1:58.60) qualifying second and FIU’s Stephanie Hussey (1:58.96) ranking third.
Hay won the consolation final at the 2021 NCAAs in what remains her personal best time of 1:56.02.
In the men’s 200 IM it was Purdue’s Nick Sherman (1:45.22) leading Louisville’s Colton Paulson (1:46.30). The top two seeds, Cardinals’ Daniel Sos (1:47.25) and Evgenii Somov (1:48.32), advacned fifth and seventh overall, respectively.
Sos came into this week ranked third in the NCAA after clocking 1:45.23 at the SMU Classic earlier this season.