The Purdue Invitational is underway, with the first scoring session featuring several swims that will be noticed in the national rankings. The Boilermakers finished the session with the lead in both the men’s and women’s team score, but they were just one of several teams with standout performances worth noting.
The women of Notre Dame started the night flexing their sprint muscles, leaving the next fastest 200 free relay team nearly a second and a half behind them. The team of Catherine Mulquin (23.19,) Cat Galletti (22.53,) Tayde Revilak (23.13,) and Ella Moynihan (23.15) finished at 1:32.00 over Purdue’s second place 1:33.43.
The men’s 200 free relay was owned by Purdue, with three sub-20 splits from Stephen Seliskar (19.94,) Filip Bujoczek (19.69,) Adam Johnston (19.59) after a sold lead-off 20.32 from Austin Flager. The Boilermaker 1:19.51 total time lands them at #3 in the current NCAA rankings. Notre Dame finished second at 1:20.08 with a lead-off split of 19.92 from Justin Plaschka, putting them at #9 nationally as a relay squad.
Purdue’s Alexa Davis and Kaersten Meitz traded off team records for the 500 freestyle in this morning’s prelim session, setting this final up to be a highly anticipated match. Davis managed to take the finals win at 4:40.51 over Meitz’ 4:41.78, but it was not enough to take back the record as Meitz’ prelim swim was a 4:40.27. Those two Boilermaker women are now the #2 and #3 performers so far in Division 1, making a statement about their distance program. Purdue took three of the top four spots in the event with Anika Karlina Petric in fourth with 4:44.40; the 1-3 sweep prevented by Air Force standout Genevieve Miller third at 4:43.77. The third and fourth place times in this heat were also fast enough to rank in the top ten nationally, making this event particularly strong at this invitational.
The men’s 500 free had five swimmers at 4:31 coming out of the prelim, but it was Missouri State’s Minki Kang who broke away to be the only sub-4:30 finish at 4:29.02. Purdue’s Jared Schimmelpfenning took second with 4:30.70, edging past Wyoming’s Ryan Ball who touched at 4:30.87 for third.
The Purdue women nearly took a 1-4 sweep of the 200 IM as well, with Notre Dame’s Katie Miller breaking up the pack on her 2:02.13 third place finish. Purdue’s Meagan Lim and Hannah Manger topped the event with 2:02.02 and 2:01.38 respectively.
In the men’s 200 IM it was the Missouri State Bears who put on a show nearly taking a 1-3 sweep of the event, thwarted by .03 with Purdue’s Erik Juliusson edging out Kacper Cwiek, 1:48.42 to 1:48.45 for third. The Bears’ Artur Osvath and Uvis Kalnins shined at 1:47.57 and 1:47.21 respectively, moving into the #15 and #12 ranked positions nationally.
Wyoming’s Emily Ridout impressed with her 22.66 win in the 50 freestyle. Her swim was good enough for #13 in the NCAA, and held back a hard-charging 22.73 from Florida International’s Naomi Ruele, the only other sub-23 swim of the night.
The men’s 50 free was a barn-burner, with the top two finishes only .02 apart. Notre Dame’s Justin Plaschka couldn’t match his blazing relay split from earlier in the evening, touching in 20.05 for second. Purdue’s Adam Johnston stabbed the touchpad at 20.02 for the win and a #14 ranking. Plaschka’s 19.92 from the 200 free relay ranks tenth in the NCAA so far as well.
Diving proved to be an advantage for the host team as Purdue took first and third on the women’s 3-meter, along with first and second on the men’s 1-meter. Mary Beth Dunnichay won with 349.60, ahead of Southern Illinois’ Cheri Zhang (344.10) and fellow Boilermaker Sam Reese (331.70.) Wyoming’s Austin Rettinghouse finished third with 310.50 behind Purdue’s Max Showalter (337.90) and Josef Cifelli (398.45) in the men’s event.
In the 400 medley relay the Boilermaker team of Breanna Robinson, Emily Fogle, Meagan Lim, and Alexa Davis clocked a 3:37.03 for the win, with the most notable split being an outstanding 58.71 breaststroke leg from Fogle. Notre Dame finished second in 3:39.27, with a noteworthy 52.49 fly split from Cat Galletti. Those relay times currently rank #3 and #8 in the NCAA.
The Purdue men left the rest of the teams over two seconds behind them in the event, turning in the #2 medley relay in the NCAA so far this year. The team of Stephen Seliskar (48.54,) Marat Amaltdinov (53.49,) Alex Toetz (48.66,) and Filip Bujoczek (43.69) rocked a 3:14.38. Notre Dame and Missouri State rounded out the top three for the medley relay with 3:16.65 and 3:16.99 respectively.
Note: There were 3 men under 4:30 in the 500. Minki Kang (MOST) 4:29.02, Connor Brown (ND) 4:28.02, and Richard Mannix 4:29.63. Both times by Brown and Mannix were done in the B heat because ND was not suited in the morning; should see much faster times from the whole team at night.