For a quarter-century Dan Ross has steadily guided the Purdue men’s swimming. At a time when many coaches burn out or begin to lose their touch though, Ross has never been better. The Boilermakers were hit hard by graduation in 2009, but still recorded their highest Big Ten point total. That’s what happens when you ride a ship with such an even keel.
| There's even keel and then there's Brian Kiel. Name a stroke and the rocket from Rochester, Minnesota has or is close to NCAA cuts in it. He’s the real deal and the Boilermakers first bona-fide swimming star since Andrew Langenfeld broke the Big Ten record in the 50 freestyle.
That record could be put to the test by fellow freshmen Matthew Friede or Steven Ung from Oregon. Purdue also added a 6’6” Californian named Phil Geredes and Naperville’s Danny Tucker. This 4x50 free relay of the future should thrive under one of the nation’s most infectious and unheralded sprint guru’s, J Agnew. Agnew earned the respect and admiration from coaches across the Hoosier state by molding great sprinters from little Yorktown, Indiana. Since then he’s also developed into a fierce recruiter.
“J did a great job with the initial leg work,” explained Ross, in finding swimmers who fit well with Purdue, which meant having “have their school, swimming and social life in balance."
Luke Trimmer is the lone true mid-distance/distance guy while Jacob McGough and Spain’s Eduard Galeando help ease the loss of Sam Wilcher. Galeando is already faster than Wilcher’s LCM times but Ross thinks he’s going to translate to yards easily.
Add in a diver for NCAA Coach-of-the-Year Adam Soldati to work on and the Boilers should see steady seas in their efforts to move up the ranks.
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