Pieroni Drops 1:32.2 200 Free on Day 2 of Purdue Invite

2017 PURDUE INVITATIONAL

• Live Results
• Psych Sheets
• Meet Central
• Hosted by Purdue (West Lafayette, Indiana)
• 25 Yards
• Invite Format

The 2017 Purdue Invitational continued tonight with the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 back, 100 breast, 200 medley relay, and 800 free relay. The Florida men still hold a dominant lead on the men’s side, while Indiana sits atop the standings on the women’s side.

MEN’S HIGHLIGHTS:

Freestyle standout Blake Pieroni had one of the top swims of the night for the Hoosiers with his performance in the 200 free. Pieroni established his lead early on in 44.20 with teammate Mohamed Samy trailing at the 100-yard mark in 45.01. On the back half, Florida’s Khader Baqlah and Maxime Rooney started to make up some ground and swam past Samy, but Pieroni held a steady lead to win in 1:32.33. Baqlah wound up 2nd in 1:33.35, while Rooney out-touched Samy 1:34.32 to 1:34.43 for 3rd place.

The 800 free relay came at the end of the session, and the 200 freestylers were back at it again. Rooney led off Florida’s ‘B’ relay in a 1:33.65, while Florida’s ‘A’ squad (6:18.18) came up just short of the win. The Hoosiers won the race in 6:17.75 with a pair of rolling-start 1:33 splits from Pieroni (1:33.41) and Lanza (1:33.93).

Indiana’s Vini Lanza nabbed the 100 fly win, coming from behind to outswim teammate Nikola Miljenic 46.58 to 47.21. Another Hoosier picked up an individual win tonight as Ian Finnerty touched 1st in the 100 breast. Finnerty was neck-and-neck with Missouri State’s Blair Bish throughout the race, getting his hands to the wall just ahead with a 51.99 to Bish’s 52.20.

Freshman backstroker Michael Taylor of Florida picked up the 100 back victory. Taylor flipped just a tenth ahead of teammate Bayley Main (47.64), but stretched it to a 4 tenth lead into the finish as he won in 47.25 to Main’s 47.64.

Florida’s Jan Switkowski and Mark Szaranek battled in the 400 IM. Switkowski took the early lead, but Szaranek started to close the gap on the breaststroke. Switkowski was able to widen the gap again on the free leg, rolling to a 3:42.50 ahead of Szaranek’s 3:44.56. Teammate Grant Sanders secured a top 3 sweep for the Gators in 3:46.43.

In the 200 medley relay, Indiana completed their sweep of the medley relay events. Taylor took the early lead for the Gators with a 21.69 back split ahead of Samy’s 21.88, but the Hoosier’s bounced back with Finnerty’s 23.72 breast split to take the lead by almost 7 tenths. Florida fought back to cut their lead to 2 tenths thanks to a 20.18 fly split from Switkowski, but Indiana’s Pieroni blasted an 18.86 anchor leg to secure the win for his team in 1:25.09.

MEN’S TEAM SCORES THROUGH DAY 2:

1. University of Florida- 667
2. Indiana University- 562.5
3. Virginia Tech- 384.5
4. Purdue University- 243
5. Missouri State University- 217
6. Southern Illinois University- 112
7. University of North Carolina- 88
8. U.S. Naval Academy- 84

WOMEN’S HIGHLIGHTS:

The Indiana women took down a Pool Record in the 200 medley relay to open the session. Ally Rockett got things started with a 23.93 back split. She handed off to Lilly King, who threw down a 25.83 breast split to push them further ahead. Christie Jensen rolled through the fly leg in 22.96 and Grace Haskett closed with a 21.86 free split as they took down the record in a scorching 1:34.58.

The Hoosiers had a dominant showing individually as well, as 3 of the 4 members of the 200 medley relay won their individual stroke 100s. King was the only woman to break 1:00 in the 100 breast, turning in a 59.12 for the win. Jensen continued her strong showing at the meet with a win in the 100 fly. After putting up a quick 51.87 in prelims, she came up with a 52.17 to take the final. Her prelims time was a best time by a full second. Rockett was the 3rd to win her specialty 100, taking home the 100 back title. She used her front half speed to take the early edge over Florida’s Emma Ball, breaking 52 for the first time to win it in 51.97 ahead of Ball’s 52.26. Ball clipped her best time by just over a tenth.

Indiana had a 4th woman bring in a win with Kennedy Goss in the 200 free. Goss raced to victory over Purdue standout Kaersten Meitz, outpacing Meitz with a steady lead throughout the race. She touched in 1:44.48, followed by Meitz’s 1:45.72.

All-American IMer Reka Gyorgy brought home a win for Virgnia Tech in the 400 IM. Gyorgy wasted no time establishing her lead, touching in 1:56.77 to lead by almost 5 seconds halfway through. Florida’s Kelly Fertel (4:09.11) made a big dent in her lead on the back half, but Gyorgy couldn’t be caught as she won it in 4:07.45.

WOMEN’S TEAM SCORES THROUGH DAY 2:

1. Indiana University- 597.5
2. University of Florida- 459.5
3. Virginia Tech- 377
4. Purdue University- 368
5. Florida International- 218
6. Missouri State University- 144
7. Southern Illinois University- 90
8. University of North Carolina- 54