Team Scores – Women:
Minnesota 235, Illinois 95
Purdue 198, Illinois 122
Wisconsin 228, Illinois 102
Minnesota 173, Purdue 147
Wisconsin 179, Minnesota 151
Wisconsin 190, Purdue 130
Team Scores-Men: Minnesota 206, Purdue 124 Minnesota 209, Wisconsin 121 Purdue 185, Wisconsin 145
The first of the Big Ten quad meets saw one of the Minnesota squds uphold their top 10 ranking, while the other was less successful.
On the women’s side of the meet, no. 10 Minnesota went 2-1, no. 17 Wisconsin went 3-0, Illinois went 0-3, and no. 22 Purdue went 1-2.
The Wisconsin team kicked off the second day of competition in the 200 medley relay by setting an NCAA ‘B’ cut, and were nearly 3 seconds ahead of Minnesota, who finished second. In the 1000 free, Minnesota showed it’s dominance, led by twins Ashley and Kristen Steenvoorden who finished first and second, respectively in 9:57.21 and 9:58.15.
After the distance event came the splash-and-dash, at the opposite end of the spectrum. Wisconsin’s Beckie Thompson won easily in 22.89, an NCAA ‘B’ cut, but the next 6 competitors all finished between 23.21 and 23.91.
In the 200 yard breaststroke, a heated dual between Minnesota’s Jillian Tyler and Wisconsin’s Ashley Wanland. After Wanland jumped out to a .66 second lead after the first 100, Tyler, who is a backhalf swimmer, made a big move in the third 50 to cut that lead to just .12 seconds. Through the final 50, however, the two swimmers swam almost identical splits, and Wanland finished on top with a time of 2:12.15, to Tyler’s 1.12.24. Both swimmers’ times broke the old pool record of 2:12.80.
Purdue’s most successful race of the day was the 200 freestyle, where Ariel Martin, Lauren Roth, and Lisa Butler finished 1-2-3. Illinois managed to muster two top-4 finishes, thanks to Brittany Mcgowan in the 100 fly (57.42) and Erin Rodriguez in the 400 I.M. (4:27.32).
Wisconsin closed the meet out with another relay win, this time in pool record fashion. The group of Maggie Meyer, Thompson, Laura Miller, and Ruby Martin turned in a time of 3:21.64 to break the 7-year old mark in the 400 free relay. The Wisconsin women also broke the pool record in the 400 medley relay on Day 1.
In the Men’s tri-meet, the no.9 Minnesota men went 2-0, no. 18 Purdue went 1-1, and Wisconsin went 0-2. The meet was dominated by the Golden Gophers, who won 16 out of 20 events, including all 10 on the second day.
Out of the 4 events that Minnesota did not win, 3 were taken by Purdue (Matt Stewart-200 back, Aaron Koger-100 back, Kyle Mitrione-1M diving). Despite their overall dominance in winning events, Minnesota still faced many close races. In the 200 I.M., Alex Wold had to overtake Wisconsin’s Derrick O’Donnell on the freestyle leg to win the event by a mere .04 seconds (1:51.54-1:51.58). In the men’s 500 free, Michael McBroom won by the same margin over Purdue’s Drew Wolfred (4:29.85-4:29.89). In the 200 fly, Minnesota was on the wrong end of a close race, as Wisconsin’s Marcus Guttman outtouched Kevin Baseheart by .03 (1:48.71-1:48.74).
On day 2, the Gophers came out with a vengeance, and none of the races were very close. Even the 50 freestyle, which is usually a tight race, was won by Minnesota junior Curt Carlson by .28 seconds, a relatively wide margin. Carlson also flirted with a 22-year old pool record of 20.41, but just missed by finishing in 20.44.