After two days of competition the Golden Gophers came out on top over the Purdue Boilermakers and Northwestern Wildcats.
The Golden Gophers began day two against Purdue and Northwestern on a high-note, winning both the men's and women's 200 freestyle relays.
Becca Weiland, Lauren Votava, Blake Zeiger and Danielle Nack combined for a 1:32.76 to take first in the women's 200 freestyle relay. Minnesota also placed third in the event, with Heidi Busack, Allison Schumacher, Tori Simenec and Abigail Raatz finishing with a time of 1:33.44.
The 200 free relay team of Daryl Turner, Paul Fair, Ian Gordon and Ryan Miksch placed first with a time of 1:21.27. The Minnesota "B" relay finished fourth with a time of 1:23.74.
In the women's 400 IM, freshman Brooke Zeiger took home a first-place finish with a time of 4:19.10. Sophomore Breanne Siwicki had a 4:26.34 for fifth place.
Sophomore Jakub Maly posted a 3:56.93 in the men's 400 IM for second place. Gopher Andrew Hartbarger placed fourth with a time of 3:58.04.
Becca Weiland finished first in the women's 100 freestyle with a time of 50.25. Teammate Lauren Votava followed for second with a 50.40 in the event.
In the men's 100 freestyle, sophomore Paul Fair powered his way to a first-place finish with a 44.99. Freshman Michael Nunan placed third with a 45.75.
Brooke Zeiger finished second in the women's 200 backstroke, finishing with a time of 2:01.77. Katelyn Holmquist followed for third with a 2:02.91.
Carl Newenhouse (1:48.18) and Chris Johnson (1:49.91) placed third and fourth in the men's 200 backstroke.
Senior Tori Simenec led the way in the women's 100 butterfly. Simenec finished first with a time of 55.01 and was followed by teammate Danielle Nack (55.20) for second.
Daryl Turner picked up another first-place finish in the men's 100 butterfly. Turner finished with a time of 47.95, a body-length ahead of the field. Nick Orf placed sixth with a time of 50.56.
Kiera Janzen took home first in the women's 500 freestyle, finishing with a time of 4:47.86. Fellow senior Jessica Plant took third with a 4:50.06 in the event.
CJ Smith finished with a 4:28.43 in the men's 500 free for first. Freshman Michael Nunan followed for second place with a time of 4:33.02.
In the women's 200 breast, Kierra Smith picked up her fourth first-place finish on the weekend. Smith had a 2:12.68. Freshman Rae Bullinger placed eighth with a 2:23.65.
Sophomore Spencer Mattox placed second in the men's 200 breast with a time of 2:00.64. Freshman Conner McHugh had a 2:01.36 for third.
Lauren Votava, Becca Weiland, Jessica Plant and Tori Simenec placed first in the women's 400 free relay with a 3:22.84. Minnesota's "B" relay placed third with a time of 3:25.08.
The relay team of Daryl Turner, Paul Fair, Ryan Miksch and Michael Nunan placed first in the men's 400 free relay with a time of 2:59.80.
On the men's three-meter diving board, Matt Barnard finished third with a total of 366.35 points. Dylan Zoe (362.45) and Manny Pollard (339.85) followed for fourth and fifth.
Yu Zhou posted 287.70 points on the women's platform for second place. Lexi Tenenbaum (277.00) finished third, with freshman Elizabeth Etterman placing fourth with 256.40 points.
Two more individual event victories for Guillermo Blanco along with a sweep of the diving events contested Saturday highlighted the second and final day of competition for the Purdue swimming and diving teams at the Big Ten Triple Duals.
In the team scoring, the Boilermakers closed out a pair of dual victories against Northwestern, but came out on the wrong end vs. host Minnesota. The Purdue men trailed by 11 points entering the day but ended up losing to the No. 23 Gophers, 196.5-156.5.
Led by Blanco’s four event victories over the two days, the Boilermakers won 10 events for the weekend. Steele Johnson swept the men’s diving events after adding a 3-meter victory Saturday to his platform win from Friday.
Johnson and Jamie Bissett finished 1-2 in 3-meter diving. Johnson posted a team season-best score of 464.40 to improve on his second-best mark in program history. MacKenzie Tweardy was the only non-Minnesota diver to compete in women’s platform diving Saturday, but still managed to win the event with a team season-best score of 318.90. She has won on 10-meter each of the last two weekends.
Blanco was victorious in the 200 backstroke and 400 IM Saturday, adding those winning performances to his event victories in the 200 freestyle and 200 butterfly. The senior’s time of 3:53.60 in the 400 IM was a personal season best.
Marat Amaltdinov won the 200 breaststroke Saturday to round out the list of Purdue victories. The freshman took third in 100 breast Friday. In November, Amaltdinov established a new team freshman record in the 200 breast at Minnesota’s University Aquatic Center.
Along with Bissett, individual second-place finishers for Purdue Saturday included Kaersten Meitz (500 free), Nika Karlina Petric (400 IM) and Stephen Seliskar (100 fly). Seliskar also contributed to the men’s 200 free relay team that finished second with a Purdue season-best time of 1:21.70. Austin Flager, Evan Barta and Adam Johnston rounded out the quartet.
Meagan Lim (100 fly and 400 IM), Allie Davis (100 and 500 free) and Petric (400 IM and 500 free) joined Blanco as Boilers to post a pair of top five individual finishes Saturday. Lim was Purdue’s top finisher in the 100 fly.
The Purdue men finished their season with a 5-2 dual meet record. The No. 16 Purdue women went 5-3 in duals this season. Both teams will now turn their focus towards the Big Ten Championships. However, selected swimmers will compete for the women at the Ohio State Winter Invite (Feb. 14-15) and the men at the Michigan First Chance meet (Feb. 21-22) prior to Big Tens.
