COLUMBUS, Ohio - An unrested Ohio State men's swimming team, with help from its divers, powered to a second-place finish at the Purdue Invitational with 932.5 points to trail only Louisville, by six points, at the conclusion Sunday of the four-team meet. The event featured three days of a championship format agenda designed to acclimate the teams to the racing regime that will be experienced in February and March at the Big Ten and NCAA championships, respectively.
Buckeyes claimed three wins on Sunday: Andrew Elliott opened the day with a win in the 200 backstroke (1:47.52). He was followed by a terrific win by Mark Neiman in the 1650 freestyle with an NCAA "B" qualifying time of 15:27.82 and a win on the platform diving competition by Wes Weiser, a senior who red-shirted the 2008-09 campaign.
There were other notable swims for Ohio State on Sunday. Elliott Keefer swam to an NCAA "B" standard with a second-place effort in the 200 breaststroke (1:59.64). Stefan Sigrist was second in the 1650 freestyle, Niksa Roki was third in the 200 butterfly and Joel Elber (100 freestyle) and Phil Seleskie (200 backstroke) each claimed a fourth-place finish.
The Buckeyes return home to the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion for a Tuesday, Nov. 24, meet against Cleveland State. Starting time for the double-dual meet with the OSU and CSU women's teams is 5 p.m.
A few notes from the Purdue Invite:
- The coaches could only take 22 swimmers plus three divers to the competition.
- Ohio State qualified 59 swimmers into championship or consolation finals races with 37 of those championship races during the three-day meet.
- Ohio State had four individual event wins: Stefan Sigrist (500 freestyle); Andrew Elliott (200 backstroke); Mark Neiman (1650 freestyle); and Wes Wieser (platform diving).
- Ohio State also had one relay win - the 200 medley relay of Andrew Elliott, Elliott Keefer, Quincy Lee and Joel Elber) - and two runner-up relay swims (400 free and 800 free relays, respectively).
- Five individuals reached NCAA "B" qualifying standards: Sigrist (500 freestyle); Justin Farra (200 IM), Elliott (100 backstroke), Keefer (200 breaststroke) and Mark Neiman (1650 freestyle).
- Two relays - 200 medley relay and the 800 free relay - also achieved NCAA "B" qualifying standards.
Men's Swimming
Purdue Invitational Final Results
Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009
West Lafayette, Ind.
Team Scores: 1. Louisville 938.5; 2. Ohio State 932.5; 3. Purdue 792.5; 4. Missouri State 320.5.
Ohio State Top Finishers: 200 backstroke - 1. Andrew Elliott (1:47.52); 100 freestyle - 4. Joel Elber (45.46); 200 breaststroke - 2. Elliott Keefer (1:59.74); 200 butterfly - 3. Niksa Roki (1:49.26); 1650 freestyle - 1. Mark Neiman (15:27.82)); 10-meter platform diving - 1. Wes Wieser (437.65); 400 freestyle relay - 2. Elber, Olson, Fahrbach, Elliott (3:01.12).
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