Purdue vs Hawaii (Men’s Dual)
- Tuesday, January 2nd
- Honolulu, Hawaii
- Short course yards
- Results
Team Scores
- Purdue – 178
- Hawaii – 84
Purdue and Hawaii kicked off the new year with a men’s dual meet in Honolulu on Tuesday, January 2nd. Despite winning both relays, Hawaii fell to Purdue by nearly 100 points.
Both teams put up decent times considering they’re in the middle of their Winter break training.
Hawaii also pulled in wins in the 200 free from Jonas Gutzat (1:40.35) and Metin Aydin in the 200 back (1:47.56).
Purdue’s newest swimmer, Nikola Bjelajac, who joined the team over the break, put up back to back wins in the 50 and 100 free. Racing SCY in an official capacity for the first time ever, Bjelajac took the 50 with a 20.63 and the 100 in 46.26. His eligibility was verified during the team’s training camp in Hawaii and Bjelajac flew to Honolulu to officially join the team on December 28th. His time from Tuesday is the fastest on the team this season already, providing a nice boost to a deep sprint group.
The other double individual event winner of the meet was Purdue breaststroke star Marat Amaltdinov, who won the 100 and 200 breast. Amaltdinov posted times of 55.53 and 2:00.54. Purdue hasn’t swum a dual meet during their Winter training camp in recent years, so it’s hard to compare how his times stack up against other seasons. It is clear that he’s in the middle of hard training though, since his 200 time is his slowest of the season (season best 1:54.27) and his 100 time is his 2nd slowest of the season (season best 54.05).
Event Winners:
- 200 medley relay: Hawaii (Aydin, Kokko, Chaba, Wynn) – 1:30.31
- 1000 free relay: Nick McDowell (Purdue) – 9:18.52
- 200 free: Jonas Gutzat (Hawaii) – 1:40.35
- 100 back: Joe Young (Purdue) – 49.18
- 100 breast: Marat Amaltdinov (Purdue) – 55.53
- 200 fly: Grant Lewis (Purdue) – 1:49.27
- 50 free: Nikola Bjelajac (Purdue) – 20.63
- 100 free: Nikola Bjelajac (Purdue) – 46.26
- 200 back: Metin Aydin (Hawaii) – 1:47.56
- 200 breast: Marat Amaltdinov (Purdue) – 2:00.54
- 500 free: Batuhan Hakan (Purdue) – 4:30.24
- 100 fly: Erik Juliusson (Purdue) – 48.50
- 200 IM: Adam Noens (Purdue) – 1:51.45
- 200 free relay: Hawaii (Chaba, Masei, Springhetti, Wynn) – 1:23.46
Press Release – Purdue:
TEAM SCORES
• Purdue 178, Hawaii 84
EVENTS WON
• 10 of 14
WON MULTIPLE INDIVIDUAL EVENTS
• Marat Amaltdinov, Nikola Bjelajac
WON AN EVENT, RUNNER-UP IN ANOTHER
• Batuhan Hakan, Nick McDowell
1-2-3 FINISHES
• 50, 100, 500 and 1,000 Free
1-2 FINISHES
• 100 and 200 Breast; 200 Fly
PERSONAL SEASON-BEST TIMES
• Erik Juliusson, 100 Fly; James Boone, 200 Free
HONOLULU – Marat Amaltdinov and Nikola Bjelajac each swept their event specialties to lead the way in Purdue men’s swimming’s dual meet victory at Hawaii as part of the Boilermakers’ winter training trip.
Amaltdinov won both breaststroke events to remain Purdue’s team leader in individual event victories this season. Bjelajac swept the sprint freestyle events, posting a team season-best time in the 50 free (20.63).
“We swam really well for day No. 17 of our winter training camp,” Purdue head coach Dan Rosssaid. “May not have been great speed, but it was great racing.”
Bjelajac is a freshman from Bosnia and Herzegovina who has joined the program during the semester break. His collegiate eligibility was officially verified last week and he took a Dec. 28 flight to join the Boilermakers in Honolulu for the second half of the winter training trip.
Batuhan Hakan and Nick McDowell teamed up with Bjelajac to help Purdue post 1-2-3 finishes in four of the five individual freestyle events. Hakan (500) and McDowell (1,000) both won a distance event and finished as the runner-up in the other. McDowell’s winning time (9:18.52) was less than half a second off his team season best.
Erik Juliusson posted a personal season-best time of 48.50 while winning the 100 butterfly. Adam Noens was victorious in the 200 individual medley and took third in both the 200 free and 200 backstroke.
Joe Young (100 back) and Grant Lewis (200 fly) were also winners for the Boilermakers.
Bjelajac out touched James Boone by two hundredths of a second to win the 100 free. Boone also finished as the runner-up in the 200 free with a personal season-best time (1:41.25).
Purdue is now 3-2 in dual meet action this season. Next up is a co-ed dual vs. Michigan State on Friday, Jan. 12. The final co-ed meet of the season at the Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center is slated to get underway at 5 p.m. ET.
Press Release – Hawaii:
HONOLULU – The University of Hawai’i men’s swimming team kicked off its 2018 spring season on Tuesday afternoon at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex (DKAC) in a head-to-head meet with Purdue. The Rainbow Warriors earned victory in the 200-yard medley relay, 200-yard backstroke, 200-yard freestyle and the 200-yard freestyle relay, while earning second in six events.
The 200 medley squad, consisting of junior Metin Aydin, sophomore Olli Kokko, junior Mateusz Chaba and junior Reed Wynn, picked up the victory with a time of 1:30.31, outpacing Purdue by over a full second.
Senior Jonas Guzat earned the 200 free win in a time of 1:40.35, while Aydin and sophomore Kane Followswent back-to-back for the top two spots of the 200 back, coming in at 1:47.56 and 1:48.18, respectively.
Chuba, freshman Micah Masei, sophomore David Springhetti and Wynn teamed up to close out the day’s events with a 1:23.46 and the win in the 200 free relay.
Purdue notched the team win in the duel event, 178-84.
The Rainbow Warriors join up with the women’s team on Saturday (Jan. 6), returning to action for another Big Ten head-to-head matchup, taking on Minnesota at the DKAC beginning at 12:00 p.m. The men’s and women’s diving teams will also be in competition across the next three days (Jan. 3-5) in the Wally Nakamoto Diving Invitational, beginning at 12:00 p.m. each day.
