2023 PURDUE INVITATIONAL
- November 16-18, 2023
- Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
- Short Course Yards (25 yards), Prelims/Finals
- Teams Participating: Purdue, Illinois (Women), Northwestern, Illinois State (Women), Southern Illinois, Missouri State, Marshall (Women), McKendree (NCAA D2)
- Meet Central
- Live Results
- Day 1 Recap
- Day 2 Recap
The final day of racing at the 2023 Purdue Invitational saw some head-to-head showdowns of the stars of the meet, with Ayla Spitz of Northwestern battling Celia Pulido of Southern Illinois in the 200 back, and Jack Lustig of McKendree battling Diego Nosack of Northwestern in the 200 fly.
In the team battles, the Northwestern men and Purdue women ran away with the titles, respectively, clinching the standing they held for most of the weekend.
Women’s Meet Recap
Final Team Scores:
- Purdue – 1,093.5
- Northwestern – 747
- Illinois – 469
- Missouri State – 351
- Marshall – 306
- Southern Illinois – 251
- Illinois State – 242.5
- McKendree – 152
The big finale for the women came in the 200 back, where Northwestern’s Ayla Spitz, a transfer from Cal, squared off with Southern Illinois’ Celia Pulido, who won the 100 on Friday and probably stamped her ticket to the NCAA Championships.
While Pulido used her speed to open up an early lead (55.71-56.34), Spitz used her superior endurance to roar back in the last 100 yards and win by a comfortable 1.8 seconds.
An approximate visualization of this race:
Northwestern’s Justine Murdock was 3rd in 1:56.15.
Spitz sparked a run of three straight wins for the Northwestern women on Saturday evening. Not long after, sophomore teammate Lindsay Ervin won the 100 free in 49.03, adding to her victory in the 50 free earlier in the meet. That’s about four-tenths from her personal best.
20 minutes after that, freshman Maggie Papanicholas won the 200 breast in 2:12.09, which clears her previous best of 2:12.84 that was set in March 2021, two-and-a-half years ago. That’s a big development for a swimmer who is a much better sprint breaststroker than distance breaststroker.
The run came to an end when Purdue’s Cecilie Wiuff (1:59.10), Madeline Greaves (1:59.67), and Brinly Hardy (1:59.79) went 1-2-3 in the 200 fly, the last individual event of the meet.
Those were best times for all three swimmers. For Wiuff because her best time of 1:59.22 from last season was done at a January quad meet and not at a championship meet. Greaves’ previous best of 1:59.99 was set at the 2022 Big Ten Championships; last year she was never better than 2:01, which came at the same meet as Wiuff’s season-best. Hardy too had been stuck for a while, last swimming a best time of 2:00.20 in March 2022 while still in high school.
That was Purdue’s second win of the day after Caitlin Hurley (16:41.69) and Reagan Mattice (16:43.60) went 1-2 in the 1650 free, including a best time for Mattice.
Northwestern finished off the meet with a 3:17.45 in the 400 free relay. Spitz led off in 49.05, followed by Ervin (49.36), Audrey Yu (49.08), and Sydney Smith (49.96).
Purdue was 2nd, including a best split of 49.31 from Maggie Love.
Purdue racked up more points in diving, completing a sweep, as a team, of the competitions when Daryn Wright won the platform with a score of 313.20. They went 1-2-3 in that race as well. While Northwestern won a big share of the meet’s event, repeated displays of depth from the Purdue women, especially in diving, gave them an easy win at the meet.
Men’s Meet Recap
Final Team Scores:
- Northwestern – 1,047.5
- Purdue – 886.5
- McKendree – 603
- Missouri State – 380
- Southern Illinois – 249
The race of the day on the men’s side was the 200 fly, and in this one, Jack Lustig from Division II side McKendree left no doubt in his win over Northwestern freshman Diego Nosack.
He swam 1:42.78 in the 200 fly, opening a 2.40 second lead by the 100 yard mark, with Nosack coming in 2nd in 1:44.56.
Lustig is the defending NCAA Division II Champion and record holder and also won the 100 fly (46.65) on Friday. Nosack, meanwhile, entered the day with wins in the 200 IM and 400 IM, including a momentous school record in the latter.
While neither swimmer set a record in that race, Nosack’s Northwestern teammate David Gerchik did in the 200 backstroke final. He finished in 1:41.92, which broke the old Meet Record of 1:42.68 set last season by Southern Illinois’ Ruard van Renen. That’s a new personal best for the 22-year-old freshman from Israel. The time now ranks him 4th all-time in program history, chasing the School Record of 1:38.71 held by Olympic gold medalist Matt Grevers.
Tyler Lu, who is ahead of him on that list, finished 3rd in 1:44.29 off his best time of 1:41.79 from spring 2022.
Matthew Lucky won the 200 breast in 1:56.60 and Andrew Martin won the 1650 in 14:58.19 to give Northwestern three individual event wins on the final day of the meet. That swim for Martin was a new personal best by six seconds and his first time under 15 minutes in the event. His previous best time was done to win last year’s Big East title while swimming for Xavier.
Purdue picked up a final day win from Brady Samuels in the 100 free. He finished in 42.58, overcoming a best time from Northwestern’s Cade Duncan (42.80).
Duncan would get the last laugh, though, as he anchored Northwestenr’s 400 free relay in 42.22 to give the Wildcats a 2:54.04 win. Southern Illinois was 2nd in 2:54.88 and McKendree was 3rd in 2:55.69.
Samuels split 41.91 on Purdue’s 400 free relay, but they were disqualified after touching first in 2:53.89. Their last three legs registered reaction times of -.40 (Samuels), -.33, and -.50, though the official DQ listing is the anchor and his -.50, so there was either a reaction pad malfunction or some really bad exchanges for the Boilermakers.
Platform specialist Adam Cohen of Northwestern wrapped the meet with a win on platform on Saturday. He was the only non-Purdue diver to win at this meet.
Purdue will host a long course time trial on Sunday for swimmers chasing World Championship, Olympic, Olympic Trials, or other cuts.
Diego Nosack had an unbelievable meet.