The Purdue Boilermakers hit the road on Thursday for a dual meet against the Miami University Redhawks, winning 13 out of 16 events for a dominant 207-92 victory.
Beyond just winning 13 events, Purdue went at least 1-2 in at least nine of the day’s events. That included both the 200 free and the 400 IM, where 2014 individual NCAA qualifier Guillermo Blanco picked up a pair of individual wins, swimming 1:42.91 and 4:00.24, respectively.
Meanwhile, junior Stephen Seliskar picked up a pair of victories of his own, beginning with a 1st-place finish in the men’s 200 fly with a 1:52.42. That was a tight race, though it was all Boilermakers, as he beat out teammates Josh Brooks (1:52.46) and Alex Toetz (1:53.26).
Seliskar had a more dominant showing later in the 200 backstroke where a 1:53.42 won by two seconds over Miami’s Heshan Unamboowe (1:55.47).
For Miami, all three wins came in the 100 yard sprint distances, beginning with junior Sean Neri winning the men’s 100 backstroke in 51.91 ahead of Purdue’s Ted Curtiss (52.15). The backstrokes were last year, and continue to be this year, a big weakness for this Purdue team.
The next win for the Redhawks came in the men’s 100 free, where senior Joe Baumgartner had an impressive swim of 45.59 to win. That time is actually identical to the one he went on this same weekend last season (then against Cleveland State), showing that he’s right on track again this year. While Missouri State’s Uvis Kalninsis a big favorite to repeat as the MAC Champion in this event, Baumgartner, especially with the early success he’s had, is a contender for 2nd place.
The 3rd individual win for the Redhawks came from promising freshman Pete Simcox, who swam a 51.63 to win the men’s 100 fly. That will be a confidence-boosting win for the Ohio native, not only in that its seven-tenths of a second faster than he was against Xavier last week, and a fantastic time for October, but in that he beat out Purdue All-American Lyam Dias, who was a 51.88.
Dias is a quality butterflier, but that swim was still an “off-event” entry for him, as he’s primarily a breaststroker. With him out of the breaststrokes, though, Purdue didn’t miss a beat, with sophomore James Nguyen stepping in and winning the 100 (57.33) and 200 (2:04.70) yard races by just a few tenths each over Purdue’s Evan Bader. Dias still swam on the winning “A” 200 medley relay, though splits for that race were not available.
The Purdue men next race against Notre Dame on Saturday in South Bend, while the Miami men host their fourth meet of the season, inviting in Cleveland State on Saturday as well.
