University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Leading Triple Dual Meet
1/26/2018 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
MINNEAPOLIS - Minnesota men's and women's swimming and diving both lead after day one of the Big Ten triple dual meet. A strong showing on the springboards and in the sprint events led the Gophers to jump on top of Purdue and Northwestern heading into day two of the meet.
Women
No. 18 Minnesota 121, RV Purdue 84
No. 18 Minnesota 166, Northwestern 39
Minnesota's `A' Relay squad set the tone early for the Gophers placing first in the 200 medley relay. Tevyn Waddell, Lindsey Kozelsky, Danielle Nack and Zoe Avestruz touched in at 1:40.29 ahead of Purdue and Minnesota's `B' relay.
Freshman Mackenzie Padington kept the momentum rolling in a strong 1000-yard free performance placing second (9:50.60) behind Purdue's senior star of Kaersten Meitz. Just one event later, Padington swam the 200 free in 1:46.60 beating out the field by eleven-hundredths of a second.
The first place finishes kept rolling in for the Gophers. Extending her winning streak in the 100 back to seven, Waddell placed first in 54.59 ahead of a pair of Boilermakers. In the 100 breast, Kozelsky notched a season best swim in her first place finish touching in at 1:00.51. Rachel Munson added a top three finish in a time of 1:03.54.
Danielle Nack continued the winning ways for the Maroon and Gold with her first place finish in the 200 fly. Touching in at 1:57.07, she defeated a host of Boilermakers in over four seconds. In a photo finish during the 50 free, Zoe Avestruz captured the win over Northwestern by twelve-hundredths of a second touching the wall at 23.00.
Sophomore Sarah Bacon brought the heat on the diving boards with a sweep. Bacon scored a 345.05 on the 3-meter before scoring 329.55 on the 3-meter.
The Maroon and Gold closed out day one with another strong relay performance taking the 800 free relay in over six seconds in a time of 7:15.07.
Men
No. 24 Minnesota 112, Purdue 92
No. 24 Minnesota 144, Northwestern 59
The night started strong with the Gophers' `A' relay team placing first in the 200 medley relay in a time of 1:28.74.
Freshman Tim Sates captured the first top finish of the night for the young Gophers squad in the 200 free. In a tight race with teammates Kyle Van Niekerk (1:38.85) and Nick Saulnier (1:38.90), Sates came out ahead in a time of 1:38.60.
Sophomores Matt Thomas and Tumoas Pokkinen locked in a 1-2 finish in the 200 fly. Thomas touched in at 1:47.89 with Pokkinen following at 1:49.60.
Bowen Becker brought the excitement in a 50 free blowout swim. Becker defeated Northwestern and Purdue in over eighty-four hundredths of a second touching in at 19.64.
Junior Nick Yang felt it on the springboards in a sweeping fashion. Yang took first on the 3-meter with a 404.40 score and first on the one-meter with a score of 360.55.
Minnesota's `A' relay closed out the night strong winning the 800 free relay with a time of 6:37.69
UP NEXT
Minnesota closes out the regular season tomorrow in the final day of the conference triple dual meet. Action begins in the water at noon.
Players Mentioned
