Big Ten Weekly Preview: Purdue Faces Rival Notre Dame; Minnesota Divers Return

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Photo Courtesy: Andy Ringgold

By Dan D’Addona.

The Big Ten Conference will see its most packed week of the season with nine teams in action across the country.

Meet of the Week: Purdue at Notre Dame

After hosting two meets last week, the Purdue Boilermakers will head to Notre Dame for the South Bend Quad, also featuring Rutgers and Miami.

Purdue cruised through the Indiana Intercollegiates last week and will face a huge test with the rival Fighting Irish.

Last week, the Purdue men and women each won 11 of the 12 events.

The Purdue men won every event but the 100 butterfly, finishing the day with 1,038 points in the team scoring. They outscored second-place Ball State by 833.5 points. Steele Johnson (1-meter and 3-meter diving) and Nick McDowell (200 and 500 free) both won a pair of individual events. Johnson posted list scores over 440 points in both springboard events.

The Purdue women were victorious in every event but the 500 freestyle, finishing the day with 861 points in the team scoring. Second-place Ball State was 377 points back. Jackie Smailis won the 50 free and 100 backstroke to lead the way.

Northwestern at N.C. State and Duke

The Wildcats will head to the East Coast for back-to-Back meets in North Carolina. Northwestern will face North Carolina State on Friday, then scoot over to Duke for a Saturday dual meet with the Blue Devils.

Meanwhile, while the men are away, the Northwestern women will host Illinois and Rutgers on Saturday.

Indiana/Tennessee at Kentucky

Indiana is coming off the most impressive week perhaps of any team in the nation.

The Hoosier men posted two wins on Friday, beating two-time defending NCAA Champion Texas, 149-132, and taking down Florida, who placed third at last season’s NCAA Championships, 181-100. For the Indiana women, the Hoosiers beat Florida, 150-131, but fell to Texas, 170-106.

For the Hoosier men, transfer and 2016 Olympian for Egypt Marwan Elkamash won the 800 freestyle with a time of 8:19.42.

Rio gold medalist Blake Pieroni took second in the 200 freestyle (1:51.44).

The Hoosiers swept the 100 breaststroke with Olympic gold medalist Lilly King winning for the women and Ian Finnerty touching first on the men’s side. King, the 2016 Olympic champion in the event, won with a time of 1:09.05, while teammate Laura Morley placed fifth with a mark of 1:15.02. Finnerty won the men’s 100 breast with a time of 1:05.11.

Iowa at Minnesota

After a week off, the Minnesota divers will be back on the boards after an impressive showing against rival Wisconsin.

Golden Gopher seniors Yu Zhou and Matt Barnard earned Big Ten Diver of the Week honors two weeks ago after their strong performances at the dual meet against Wisconsin.

Zhou, the 2016 Big Ten Diver of the Year, captured the win in 1-meter with a score of 316.65, and also finished second in 3-meter behind teammate Lexi Tenenbaum with a score of 340.88. The weekly honor is the 12th of Zhou’s career.

Barnard, a returning Big Ten Champion, placed first on the 3-meter board last week with a score of 393.68. He also finished second behind teammate Lucas Cooperman in 1-meter with a score of 348.75. Barnard earns his seventh career weekly conference honor.

Two weeks ago, the Gopher divers assisted Minnesota in a split against Wisconsin. The men’s team won by a score of 185-115, while the women fell 158-142.

Kenyon at Ohio State

The Ohio State Buckeyes will use this meet against NCAA Division III power Kenyon College as it prepares for Big Ten competition. The Buckeyes should roll to victory, but there should be some pretty close individual races.

Nebraska vs. Northern Iowa

Nebraska continues its tour of the Great Plains with a meet against Northern Iowa. The Corn Huskers have started the season strong and will build some more confidence in this meet before facing the bulk of the Big Ten season.

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