University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Lead Purdue And Wisconsin At Triple Duals
1/30/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
The No. 10 Minnesota men's swimming and diving team (4-0) won six events to lead No. 18 Purdue and Wisconsin in Big Ten Triple Duals action in Madison, Wis. The Gopher lead Purdue 100-74 and Wisconsin 103-74 through 10 events. The meet concludes tomorrow at noon.
Minnesota opened the meet with a convincing victory in the 200 freestyle relay. The team of Goran Majlat, Curt Carlson, Kevin Baseheart and Michael Richards turned in an NCAA B cut winning time of 1:21.47. Richards turned in the top time of 19.79 on the anchor leg. Purdue was a distant second in 1:22.82.
Senior Alex Wold kept Minnesota in the win column, touching first in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:51.54. He barely edged Wisconsin's Derrick O'Donnell at the wall by just .04 seconds. Mark Solfelt finished fourth as well for Minnesota in 1:53.19. Freshman Michael McBroom made it three wins in a row for Minnesota, placing first in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:29.85. McBroom had just enough to touch out Purdue's Drew Wolfred, who took second in 4:29.89.
Purdue's Aaron Koger won the 100 breaststroke in 56.17 but the Gophers still made a strong showing as junior Ivan Gutesa took second in 56.45 and freshman Josh Hall was third in 56.50. Purdue's Matt Stewart won the 200 backstroke in 1:52.02 while Solfelt led Minnesota in sixth with a time of 1:53.04.
The Gophers received a huge boost from freshman Kristoffer Jorgensen in 3-meter diving as he beat a very strong field to win with a score of 333.80 to record his first collegiate win. Drew Brown was sixth (304.25) and Tyler Jepsen was seventh (299.90). Brown led the Gophers on the 1-meter board with a score of 326.10. Jorgensen was seventh (285.00) and Jepsen was eighth (257.45).
Carlson gave the Gophers another victory by winning the 100 freestyle easily in 44.55. Purdue's Ben Wachtel was a distant second in 45.62. Baseheart placed second for the Gophers in the 200 butterfly in 1:48.74 after being clipped at the wall by Purdue's Marcus Guttmann (1:48.71). Junior Nadav Kochavi also took third in 1:49.32 and Wold was fifth in 1:49.85.
The Gophers' most dominating victory was in the 400 medley relay where Kochavi, Gutesa, Baseheart and Carlson won by almost four seconds in 3:18.78. Purdue was second in 3:22.52 and Minnesota's B team of Karl Burdis, Hall, Wold and Zach Bolin were third in 3:23.32.
The Gophers conclude the regular season next weekend when they host the Minnesota Challenge at University Aquatic Center. The schedule includes a Friday evening session at 6 p.m. and sessions on Saturday at noon and 6 p.m. Admission is free. The Gophers travel to the Big Ten Championships Feb. 24-27 in Columbus, Ohio.
Players Mentioned
