The Purdue Men's and Women's teams swept Northwestern today. On the men's side, No. 20 Purdue upset No. 14 Northwestern, 152-148, Friday afternoon, giving the Boilermakers their third win over a nationally ranked opponent in as many weeks. Purdue also has beaten No. 19 Texas A&M and No. 15 Arizona State. On the women's side, the Boilermakers prevailed 188-112 over Northwestern.

"We knew heading into this meet, that our divers were going to have to sweep both boards, and they did just that; they were phenomenal," said men's head coach Dan Ross. "The swimmers and divers are ecstatic after a win like this. It's great to see them come together after a win and congratulate one another."

In addition to the divers' three-place sweeps off both springboards, Ross also utilized some lineup changes to keep the team close through the very end.

"I had to take some chances in some events, shift some people around, and fortunately those moves paid off," said Ross.

With two events left, and the meet still up for grabs, Ross moved senior Eric Prugh into the 200 individual medley and then handed Prugh's anchor spot in the 400 freestyle relay to Louis Paul.

The moved paid off as Prugh finished fourth in the 200 IM, behind Paul and runner-up Giordan Pogioli, giving the Boilermakers some additional points.

Still resting on the cushion diving provided, all Purdue had to do was finish second and third in the 400 free relay in order to win the meet. And with Paul anchoring the Boilermakers' `B' relay, that goal was accomplished. Paul's 100 free split was timed at 44.71, as he moved his relay from fourth to third place.

In addition to his late heroics, Paul also won the 100 (45.74) and 200 free (1:39.90), beating his Wildcat competition by nearly a second in each contest.

Maire also finished second in the 200 back (1:50.70) behind NU All-American Matt Grevers (1:48.13). Without Maire in the 100 back, freshman Joe Colley (51.73) and senior David Hughes (52.79) responded accordingly, scoring the second and third-place points.

On the women's side, Purdue won all five freestyle races, both relays (200 medley and 400 free), as well as the 200 individual medley and 100 butterfly titles.

Erica Chandler took first in the 1,000 (10:11.83) and 500 (4:58.08) free. Susan Hentschel added to her win totals in the 100 (51.05) free and 200 (1:49.95) free, and Tracy Duchac captured the 50 free title (23.93).

Duchac and Hentschel also were part of the winning 400 free relay, alongside Christine Leupold and Kimbre Vogel. Their winning time was clocked at 3:26.99.

Additionally, Hentschel scored runner-up points in the 50 free, while Duchac placed third in the 100 free. Yvonne Laaper scored big points with a second-place showing in the 1,000 behind Chandler, and a third-place finish in the 500.

NU rookie Andrea Hupman, who Wright-Eger believed would challenge Hentschel, finished as the runner-up to the Boilermaker sophomore in the 100 and 200 free. Their 100 free showdown was extremely tight, with Hentschel winning by .09 seconds; however, Hupman could not keep pace in the 200, losing by nearly two seconds.

Wright-Eger was impressed with a number of her swimmers, in particular freshman Jenae Gill and sophomore Carlene Takaki.

Gill dominated the 100 back with a winning time of 57.23, and led Purdue's 200 `B' medley relay to a season-best time of 1:45.78. Not only did Gill's relay beat the Boilermaker `A' squad, but it also topped the Wildcat quartet of Hupman, Jessie Bailis, Christy Olin and Marijiana Surkovic by almost a second.

Takaki had a rough start, placing third in the 200 butterfly, but responded with a victory in the 100 at 56.67.

"Now that Carlene is one of our top swimmers, I think she sometimes feels the pressure to win," said Wright-Eger. "She came out nervous in the 200 fly, so we had to calm her down. But, she showed what a great competitor she is by coming back to win the 100. Against the opponents we'll face down the road, she can't afford to back down."

Jen Merte also won for the Boilermakers, beating NU's Brielle Bovee in the 200 individual medley, 2:07.16 to 2:08.59.

Divers Carrie McCambridge and Amanda Miller had an easy afternoon, as last season's NCAA qualifiers finished first and second off both springboards. McCambridge won the 1-meter title with 288.45 points, and set a pool record off the 3-meter with 305.25 points.

The previous NU pool record was held by former Boilermaker Kara Hajek-Gustafson.

Miller's runner-up scores were 266.93 off the 1-meter and 271.28 off the 3-meter.