WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Purdue women's swimming and diving welcomes the No. 22 Indiana Hoosiers and the Big Ten Network television cameras to the Boilermaker Aquatic Center Saturday for the annual rivalry dual meet, which is set to be televised live again this year.
Action begins at noon Saturday. The two-hour live television coverage will feature 16 events. Non-scoring exhibition heats of some events will be held after the 2 p.m. conclusion of the BTN coverage. The Boilermakers' annual senior salute ceremony will follow the completion of the exhibition heats.
Last season's Indiana-Purdue co-ed dual meet in Bloomington marked the BTN's first live telecast of swimming and diving. The network has annually offered television coverage of the Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships via tape delay, generally a week after the meets. Saturday's meet represents the first time the Boilermaker Aquatic Center will be the site of a live telecast.
The divers are scheduled to compete from the 1-meter springboard and platforms Saturday, as is customary for the dual meet with Indiana. The platform competition is scheduled to begin at noon and will be paused after the first three rounds. The final two rounds (of five) will be televised live beginning at 12:40 p.m. One-meter diving will begin after the platform competition is complete. The final two rounds (of six) will be televised live beginning at 1:30 p.m.
Many of Purdue's seniors will have the option of competing at home for the final time Saturday, March 2 at the Boiler-Make-It NCAA Last Chance Meet. Miskulin and the divers (men and women) are also slated to host the Zone C Championships the weekend of March 4-16.
As sophomores in January 2011 at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center, the current senior class helped lead Purdue to its first dual meet win against Indiana since 2000. Hamilton won the 1000 freestyle that day, giving the Boilers a victory in the first individual event of the competition.
Gustafson, Hamilton and Nichols have each represented the Boilers at the NCAA Championships. Hamilton earned All-America honors her first two years with the program, setting Purdue records in the 1000 and 1650 freestyle that still stand.
Boylen, Gustafson, Lunde, McIlrath, Miskluin, Nichols and Tumbush have each posted at least one individual time/score that ranks among the Top 10 in program history as well.
As one of Purdue's top performers on the relays, Gustafson has anchored the fastest foursomes in program history in all five relay events. Nichols also swam on the record-setting 200 free relay team in 2011.
Hamilton and Miskulin have both utilized a redshirt season earlier in their Purdue experiences, but are opting to close out their college careers this year.
Rhiannon Sheets swept the butterfly events at IU's Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatics Center last season, making an immediate impact on the Indiana-Purdue rivalry in the pool as a freshman. Gustafson won the 50 free and anchored the 200 medley relay team to victory, a foursome that also featured Amy Katz, Emily Fogle and Kylie Vogel.
Commentators Bernie Guenther, Rowdy Gaines and Cynthina Potter will return to the BTN broadcast booth this year. Gaines, a U.S. Olympic gold medalist and Hall of Famer, is the primary analyst for NBC's coverage of the swimming events at the Olympic Games. Potter, an IU Hall of Famer and 1976 Olympic medalist, serves in the same role for the diving events at the Olympics. Guenther swam collegiately at Florida.
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