The Golden Gophers men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams closed the annual two-day B1G Triple Dual in Evanston, Illinois this afternoon. Minnesota swept the Northwestern Wildcats and Purdue Boilermakers. Six Gophers earned two individual wins, including Conner McHugh, Danielle Nack, Daryl Turner, Lauren Votava, Brooke Zeiger and Yu Zhou. Minnesota also won seven out of eight relays.
Minnesota Women
Minnesota at Northwestern, W 245-108
Minnesota vs. Purdue, W 191-162
Yu Zhou closed out another diving sweep after totaling 296.45 points on the 1-meter springboard. Lexi Tenenbaum followed closely for second place (293.85).
Minnesota’s Zoe Avestruz, Rachel Munson, Nack and Votava placed second in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:41.88, just behind Purdue.
The Gophers didn’t allow for another silver relay finish, however. Avestruz, Nack, Abigail Raatz and Votava finished with a time of 1:32.10 for the gold.
Brooke Zeiger turned in a season-best 4:17.26 to win the 400 IM, and completing the IM sweep on the weekend. Junior Breanne Siwicki followed for second, also recording a season best time (4:21.04).
Votava picked up another win in the 100 free with a time of 50.01. Rookie Avestruz grabbed third in the event (50.83).
Nack completed the butterfly sweep with a 54.80 win the the 100 fly.
Zeiger led the Gophers in the 500 free with a 4:50.01 for third. The sophomore was followed by Samantha Harding, Siwicki and Erin Emery.
Katelyn Holmquist led Minnesota in the 200 back with a time of 2:03.30 for fifth place.
Minnesota Men
Minnesota at Northwestern, W 230-22
Minnesota vs. Purdue, W 224-129
Daryl Turner, Conner McHugh, Paul Fair and Bowe Becker posted a 3:15.79 to win the 400 medley relay. Their time was nearly five seconds faster than the rest of the field. Minnesota also picked up third in the relay.
Minnesota’s Becker, Fair, Turner and Hunter Doerr also won the 200 free relay with a time of 1:19.78.
Fair and Becker led the Gophers to a 1-2 finish in the 100 free. Fair won the event with a 44.59, while Becker had a 44.84 for second.
Turner recorded a season best 47.69 in the 100 fly to pick up another win. It was the junior’s second NCAA “B” qualifying time of the meet.
Matt Barnard finished second on the men’s 3-meter springboard with a score of 363.75. Teammates Dylan Zoe, Manny Pollard and Alan LeBlang followed, allowing the Gophers to go 2-3-4-5 in the event.
Freshman Nick Plachinski earned silver in the 500 free with a season best time of 4:34.62. Erick Huft followed for third (4:35.60).
Rookie Michael Messner led the Gophers to a third place mark in the 400 IM with a time of 3:57.29. Jakub Maly grabbed fifth, followed by teammates Brian Poon and John Bushman.
Noah Busch finished fifth in the 200 back with a 1:50.93.
The Golden Gophers will host the annual Minnesota Challenge at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center in a three-session meet on Friday, Feb. 5 and Saturday, Feb. 6. This will be the last opportunity for racing before the B1G Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships from Feb. 17-20 at Michigan and the B1G Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships from Feb. 24-27 at Purdue.
Purdue
Another new pool record for the women’s team coupled with five more event victories highlighted the second and final day of the Big Ten Triple Duals for the Purdue swimming and diving teams.
The Boilermakers finished off team victories against Northwestern in the dual meet scoring, but came up on the short end vs. Minnesota. The 18th-ranked Purdue women (6-3, 4-3 B1G) cruised past NU 244-109 and lost to No. 24 Minnesota 191-162. The Purdue men (5-4, 3-3 B1G) held off Northwestern 186-167 in what was the tightest team score of the six, and lost to No. 20 Minnesota 224-129.
The Purdue women’s 400 medley relay team established a new pool record (3:41.54) at NU’s Norris Aquatics Center while winning the event. Danny Conway (400 IM), Joe Cifelli (3-meter diving), Allie Davis (500 free) and Emily Fogle (200 breast) also won events Saturday. For seniors Conway, Davis and Fogle, it was their second individual victory of the weekend each.
Davis was part of two new pool records this weekend. After eclipsing Olympic gold medalist Dana Vollmer’s 200 free record Friday, she anchored the 400 medley relay team to the new record Saturday. Breanna Robinson, Fogle, Meagan Lim and Davis teamed up to eclipse the mark set by the Northwestern women in November of this season. Davis was also the runner-up in the 100 free Saturday.
Conway and Adam Noens finished one-two in the 400 individual medley. Davis and Kaersten Meitz did likewise in the 500 freestyle. Conway finished the weekend with a quintet of top-five finishes and Noens did the same in four events. Conway won the 200 butterfly Friday.
Led by Fogle’s sweep of the women’s breaststroke events, Purdue had three of the top four finishers in both the 100 and 200. Cady Farlow also contributed to each of those top fours. Annie Spalding was third in the 200 Saturday. Fogle won the 200 breast with another NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 2:14.74.
Led by Cifelli’s victory in 3-meter diving, the Purdue men’s top finisher was a freshman in four events Saturday. “Our young guys did a great job stepping up this weekend after we were without most of our senior class and half the junior class due to a stomach virus,” head coach Dan Ross said. “Our lone senior to complete, Danny Conway, led the way in and out of the pool. There were a number of close touch outs like Brooks in the 1,000, Flager in the 100 fly as well as Nguyen and Noens in the 200 breast. Our 200 free relay team that finished off the win vs. Northwestern was mostly underclassmen. I’m really looking forward to hosting Big Tens next month and I feel we’re right on track for a great meet.”
Austin Flager did his part by finishing as the runner-up in the 100 fly and contributing to each of the men’s top relay teams Saturday.
Boilermakers teamed up for two-three finishes in the men’s and women’s 200 backstroke as well as the women’s 100 fly. It was all freshmen in the 200 back for Purdue – Maddie Barta and Robinson for the women, Tim Barth and Erik Juliusson for the men. Meagan Lim and Emmy Rawson also finished two-three in the 100 fly.
The Purdue women closed out the meet with a team season-best time of 1:33.27 in the 200 free relay from the quartet of Grace Hernandez, Davis, Fogle and Meitz.
The Big Ten Championships highlight the February schedules for the Boilermakers. Michigan hosts the women’s meet (Feb. 17-20) and the Men’s Big Ten Championships (Feb. 24-27) will be held at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center this season.
