Purdue Sports Update March 21

PURDUE ACCEPTS BID TO THE 2024 WNIT

For the 32nd time in program history, the Purdue women’s basketball team is heading to the postseason. The Boilermakers accepted a bid to play in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament.

Purdue will face the winner of Thursday’s Bowling Green at Butler matchup on the road. If it is Bowling Green, it will be Monday night (March 25), and if Butler prevails, it will be Sunday night (March 24).

Click here for more info on the 2024 WNIT and complete bracket.

The Boilermakers are making their fifth entry into the WNIT and second under head coach Katie Gearlds. Purdue reached the second round of the 2022 edition Gearlds’ first season back at her alma mater.

Purdue’s previous WNIT appearances came in 1988 (as the National Women’s Invitational Tournament), 2010 and 2018, in addition to 2022. The 1988 appearance was the first postseason run in program history, falling in the championship game to DePaul. The Boilermakers made it to the third round of the 2018 tournament, before falling to the eventual champion Indiana.

After reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017, the Boilermakers are back in the postseason for the third consecutive year, a first for the program since the 2015-16 to 2017-18 campaigns.

Purdue went 13-18 on the year against the 22nd ranked strength of schedule in the country. The Boilermakers reached the second round of the Big Ten Tournament.

Purdue’s youth movement of five freshmen combined to lead all Big Ten rookie classes with 23.5 points per game through conference tournament action. The Boilermakers were one of two teams in the nation to have three different freshmen drop 20 points in a game this season.

Mary Ashley Stevenson became the first Boilermaker in 20 years since Katie Gearlds to earn Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors, receiving the laurel from the conference media. She alongside Rashunda Jones earned spots on the Big Ten All-Freshman Team.

Sophie Swanson set the single-game freshman 3-point record with seven in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament against Nebraska, also tying the league’s tournament record for makes by a freshman.

Jeanae Terry earned All-Big Ten laurels for her third straight season, receiving an honorable mention nod by the coaches and media. Terry is third in Purdue career assists with 561 in just three years in West Lafayette. She has 188 dimes this year, 13 away from the single-season record. The Detroit native is two rebounds shy of 1,000 for her career, which would make her the first 1,000-point, 1,000-rebound, 700-assist player in Big Ten men’s or women’s basketball history.

After becoming the 12th fastest player to reach 1,000 points at Purdue, Abbey Ellis is just 41 points away from hitting the 2,000-point mark in her five-year career.

SWIMMERS RACE IN 5 A FINALS, WIN 3 B FINALS AT NIC MEET

Purdue women’s swimming & diving will be well represented in the dive well at the NCAA Championships this week as the five Boilermakers competing will give the program an entry in all three diving events.

Sophie McAfee, Jaye Patrick, Jenna Sonnenberg, Maycey Vieta and Daryn Wright earned the right to compete at the national championship meet. All five Boilermakers are making return trips to NCAAs. Vieta (2021-24) is there for the fourth consecutive year, becoming just the sixth Purdue diver to be a four-year qualifier. McAfee (2022-24) and Patrick (2021, 2023, 2024) qualified for the third time in their careers. Sonnenberg (2022, 2024) and Wright (2023-24) are qualifiers for the second time.

A top-five overall finish and a B final victory for both Maxwell Blume and Abby Marcukaitis were the top individual accomplishments for the 16 Purdue swimmers that closed out their seasons at the CSCAA National Invitational Championship at the Florida Aquatics Swimming & Training center.

The Boilermakers were represented by six women and 10 men at the national showcase. They had A finalists in five events. Keira Kask (200 fly) joined Blume (100 breast) and Marckuaitis (200 back) as B final winners.

The Purdue men finished in sixth place of 36 scoring teams with 404 points. The women placed 34th of 54 teams.

Marcukaitis finished fourth in the A final of the 100 backstroke as the Boilermakers’ top overall finisher. Blume took fifth in the A final of the 200 breaststroke. Ana Rojas (100 back), Nathaniel Thomas (50 free) and Cecilie Wiuff (200 fly) also represented Purdue in A finals.

Kask won the B final of the 200 butterfly with a lifetime best mark of 1:59.47, moving up into 12th place in program history in the event. It was the team’s second-best time of the season.

Alexander Cole (1000 & 1650 free), Gabe Eschbach (1000 & 1650 free), Lance Lesage (100 & 200 back), Luke Fortner (200 breast) and Thomas (100 free) also posted lifetime bests that ranked among the top five on the team this season.

Purdue will be represented in all three diving events at both NCAA Championships meets over the next two weeks. Five women compete for the Boilermakers this week (March 20-23) in Athens, Ga. All three men’s divers will be among the entries when the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis hosts the national championship meet again March 27-30. ESPN+ has the live coverage of every day of both meets.

BASEBALL SPLITS WITH SAMFORD, LOSES MARATHON TO UIC

Purdue rallied back from an early four-run deficit as five pitchers teamed up for nine consecutive scoreless innings, but UIC scored twice in the top of the 14th to break the stalemate and hung on to defeat the Boilermakers 6-5 Wednesday in the longest game in the history of Alexander Field.

The five-hour, three-minute marathon goes into the Purdue record book as the longest game in program history. The Boilermakers (15-7) played at least 14 innings for the fifth time, with Wednesday being their longest since a 15-inning walk-off win vs. Ohio in March 2015 at Kokomo Municipal Stadium. Previously, the longest game at Alexander was a 13-inning walk-off win vs. Ohio State in April 2014.

Davis Pratt and Avery Cook teamed up for five consecutive zeros out of the bullpen, but Samford had already built a five-run lead and went on to deal Purdue its first home loss of the season 5-1 Friday at Alexander Field.

The Bulldogs (11-4) pounded out 15 hits and had multiple base runners in all but two innings, winning the game despite stranding 14 runners on the day.

Meanwhile, Michael Ross pitched to contact effectively while working seven innings of one-run ball. He conceded only one walk and one extra-base hit while improving to 4-0 on the season. The Boilermakers (13-4) had at least one base runner in each of the first six innings before Ross and Carson Lore teamed up to retire the final 11 batters of the game.

A walk-off win in a 25-run slugfest in the nightcap of the doubleheader punctuated a successful Saturday at Alexander as Purdue won games vs. Samford with both its pitching and offensive output.

The Boilermakers were victorious 6-1 and 13-12 in 10 innings, sweeping a doubleheader for the third time during the season-long 13-game homestand. Purdue improved to 7-1 on the homestand. The walk-off win was the Boilers’ first of the season, 10th since the start of the 2022 campaign and 13th at Alexander Field since the stadium opened in 2013.

Jo Stevens, Mike Bolton Jr. and Ty Gill teamed up for the walk-off victory against the Bulldogs’ relief ace Carson Lore. Stevens ignited the rally with a single and went first to third as Bolton connected for a hit and run double into left center. After an intentional walk loaded the bases, Gill hit the first pitch into center field for a game-ending sac fly.

The nightcap was a back and forth affair that the Boilermakers still managed to win despite squandering a six-run lead after Samford (11-7) scored eight times in the top of the fifth inning. Purdue overcome a 10-7 deficit with five unanswered runs and was able to get the game to extra innings after the visitors tied the score again with two runs in the top of eighth.

The Boilermakers open Big Ten play this weekend with a three-game home series vs. Iowa. First pitch Friday is slated for 4 p.m. ET.

WRESTLING HEADS TO NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Wrestling heads to Kansas City for the 2024 NCAA Championships on the back of a ninth place finish with five placewinners and five auto qualifiers at the 2024 Big Ten Championships. 

SCHEDULE AND INFO

Session 1	12 PM	ESPNU	First Round
Session 2	7 PM	ESPN	Second Round, Cons. 1st Round
Session 3	12 PM	ESPNU	Quarters, Cons. 2nd + 3rd Round
Session 4	8 PM	ESPN	Semifinals, Cons. 4th + 5th Round
Session 5	11 AM	ESPNU	3rd, 5th, and 7th Place
Session 6	7 PM	ESPN	Finals

Stats and live scoring for all sessions will be available on TrackWrestling.
All matches will also be streamed on ESPN+. 
All times Eastern. 

PURDUE POINTS
• Matt Ramos is the No. 4 seed for the second straight season and will look to take the final next step this year after finishing as Purdue’s ninth runner-up in 2023. 
• Ramos is the first Boiler to earn a top-five seed in back-to-back NCAA tournaments since Chris Fleeger in 2002-03.
• Greyson Clark, Joey Blaze, Stoney Buell and Brody Baumann all earned auto-bids for their first trip to the NCAA tournament this season.  
• Greyson Clark and Joey Blaze made the NCAA tournament following fantastic collegiate debut seasons. It is only the third time in program history that two true-freshmen qualified in the same season, happening only in 2021 and 1947. 
• Blaze’s No. 23 seed is the fourth highest ever for a Purdue true-freshman. 
• Clark, Blaze and Baumann’s qualifications give Purdue 39 freshmen  that have wrestled in the national tournament, 11 under Ersland. 
• Buell brings momentum to the tournament, most recently taking a 15-7 major over fellow qualifier Blaine Brenner to take 7th at Big Tens. He has won six of his last nine matches.
• Brody Baumann is the lone Boiler from Indiana to qualify for this year’s and is one of 10 wrestlers from the state as a whole.

DIVERS QUALIFY 7 FOR NCAAS ON THE TOWER VIA TOP 10S AT ZONES

The Purdue Divers closed out the Zone C Championships on Saturday with seven top-10 finishes on the tower, all qualifying for the NCAA Championships in platform diving in the process.

The Boilermakers will be represented in all three diving events at both the men’s and women’s NCAA Championships over the next two weeks. The women earned five qualification bids Saturday and eight total this week at Zones. The men also accounted for eight total event bids – two Saturday on the tower and six on the springboards the previous two days.

Maycey Vieta and Jenna Sonnenberg were the Boilermakers to officially earn their way to NCAAs on Saturday. Vieta finished third while posting the second-best score (357.20) in program history in the final. She’s now a four-year NCAAs qualifier, becoming Purdue’s sixth diver to accomplish the while joining a group that includes Casey Matthews (2009-10, 2013-14), Joe Cifelli (2016-19), Brandon Loschiavo (2017-19, 2021), Greg Duncan (2019-22) and Maggie Merriman (2019, 2021-23).

Sonnenberg will return to NCAAs for the second time in her career after also being a springboard qualifier in 2022. She needed to finish top 11 on the tower Saturday and got it done by placing 10th among a field of 27 divers. The senior improved on her list score by 29 points in the final, moving up two spots after being 12th in the prelim.

Holden Higbie and Jordan Rzepka finished third and fourth in the men’s competition, successfully qualifying for NCAAs in all three events this week. Rzepka accomplished the feat for the third season in a row and Higbie did it as a freshman.

Daryn Wright, Jaye Patrick and Sophie McAfee finished fourth, fifth and eighth Saturday. All three qualified for NCAAs in both a springboard event and on the platform this week. Patrick will compete on 1-meter and platform while McAfee and Wright will be among the field on 3-meter and platform.

Wright moved into ninth place in program history with a list score of 325.70 in the final, her best since officially becoming a Boilermaker in the fall of 2022.

The University of Georgia is hosting the women’s NCAA Championships this coming week, March 21-23 in Athens. The men’s NCAA Championships meet is the following week (March 28-30) in Indianapolis at the IU Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI.

WEEK IN TAMPA CONCLUDES WITH 2 WINS AND TOP-10 THROW

The track & field team wrapped up the opening weekend of the outdoor season with another top-10 mark in school history by a thrower and two victories at the USF Alumni Invitational in Tampa, Florida, on Saturday.

Sophomore Seth Allen recorded the best throw in the discus by a Boilermaker since 2018 to win the event on a mostly sunny and slightly muggy day at the USF Track & Field Stadium. Junior Rieko Wilford also picked up a win, as she and Allen posted two of seven top-five marks on the day. Allen had one of the six personal-best marks achieved on the second day of the two-day meet.

The USF Alumni Invite marked the end of a week-long spring break training trip in Tampa for Purdue. The Boilermakers totaled two wins, 13 top-five finishes and 15 personal-best marks over the two days.

Allen won the discus with a throw of 58.60 meters. In addition to Allen, personal-bests were achieved by seniors Logan Sandlin (discus, 35.85m) and Caleb Williams (1,500m, 3:51.66), junior Zoe Sullivan (100m hurdles, 13.46w, PR in all conditions) and sophomores Jalen Elrod (100m hurdles, 14.68) and Nolan Macklin (100m, 10.37, wind-legal PR).

To open the meet, and the outdoor season, on Friday, sophomore Leo Maxwell entered the record books in the hammer throw at No. 8. He was one of the six Boilermakers to place in the top five and his PR was one of nine for the Boilermakers.

Along with Purdue and host-USF, this weekend’s field included Big Ten opponents Iowa, Michigan and Ohio State. Fifty-one Boilermakers made the trip to Florida’s Gulf Coast.

From the Sunshine State to the Lone Star State, Purdue is back in action in two weeks at the Texas Relays and Bobcat Invitational from March 28-30 in Austin and San Marcos, Texas.

PURDUE CLAIMS 3RD SWEEP OF THE SEASON OVER CHARLESTON SOUTHERN

No. 56 Purdue women’s tennis swept the Charleston Southern Buccaneers 4-0, earning the third sweep of the 2024 season.

Making her return after six matches, senior Csilla Fodor and partner Kennedy Gibbs claimed a commanding 6-1 victory at No. 2. After Ashlie Wilson/Juana Larranaga earned a 6-2 win at No. 3 against Charleston Southern’s Kassandra Di Staulo/Marina Skegro, the doubles point was awarded to the Boilermakers.

With a 1-0 lead going into singles play, Kennedy Gibbs took an early lead at No. 2, going 6-1 in the first set and finishing the second 6-2. At No. 1, Carmen Gallardo Guevara also beat her Buccaneer singles opponent in two straight sets, winning 7-5, 6-1. To complete the sweep, Tara Katarina Milic defeated Charleston Southern’s Brenda Yoris in three sets at No. 5. 

When the match was clinched for Purdue by Milic, three Boilermakers were still fighting for a singles victory. Csilla Fodor was just beginning her final set after going 6-4, 2-6. Ashlie Wilson and Juana Larranaga were up 4-0 and 3-0, respectively, in the third set when the Boilermaker victory was called.

Up Next
The Boilermakers will host two Big Ten opponents next weekend, battling Penn State on Saturday, March 23 at noon and No. 11 Ohio State on Sunday, March 24 at noon.

PUROHIT GETS FIRST RANKED WIN AT BOISE STATE

Soham Purohit earned his first career ranked win on Friday as the Boilers lost 1-6 to No. 65 Boise State.

The Boilermakers closed out the non-conference slate by going down early in doubles play. Henrik Villanger/Stefan Simeunovic and Mujtaba Ali-Khan/Daniel Labrador fell 6-2 before the lead team could finish their competition. Juan David Velasquez/Purohit trailed ITAs No. 41 tandem by just one game before the match was abandoned at 3-4.

In singles action, the Broncos kept the scoring streak alive rattling off wins at No. 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Ali-Khan was the only Boilermaker to play three sets on Friday as he took the first set off Idriss Haddouch before being swept 6-0 in the final two sets.

Purohit capped off his first spring break with a 2-0 weekend and defeated No. 79 Jip Van Assendelft 6-4, 6-1 giving Purdue its lone point in the match. The victory was his fourth at singles No. 2 and his sixth consecutive win.

Up Next
The Boilermakers open up conference play with a match at No. 51 Indiana on Saturday, March 23.

SOFTBALL WRAP UP HOMESTAND WITH WIN OVER EIU

The Boilermakers (12-14) wrapped up a four-game homestand with a 9-5 victory vs. Eastern Illinois (19-9). The win marked the first win of the season at Bittinger Stadium, along with head coach Magali Frezzotti‘s first home victory as head coach.

Purdue out-hit Eastern Illinois, 12-8 in the win, with five Boilermakers posting a multi-hit game. The effort was led by Hailey Hayes’ home run (second inning) and RBI double (fifth inning), Moriah Polar’s two RBI triple (fourth inning) and Khloe Banks’ RBI triple (fourth inning). Meanwhile, Sage Scarmardo led the team with three runs, tying for the most runs by a Boilermaker in a game this season.

Coming down to the final inning, Purdue fell to Omaha, 3-4, in the season’s home opener at Bittinger Stadium. The Boilermakers , led by senior Kiara Dillon’s two runs on two hits, including a triple in the seventh inning, came just shy of forcing extras or earning the walk-off victory after Dillon was called out at home with no outs on the board in the bottom of the seventh.

With a tied game heading into the final inning, Omaha scored two runs after stealing home and a double. The Boilermakers responded with a lead-off double by Hailey Hayes. Kiersen George, who entered to pinch run for Hayes, scored on the next at-bat when Dillon tripled to left center field.

The triple by Dillon was her second of the season.

Defensively, the Boilermakers caught the Mavericks’ stealing during the sixth inning with a throw from catcher Hailey Hayes to shortstop Tyrina Jones.

Additionally, the national leader in hit-by-pitch Sage Scarmardo earned her 14th walk of the season with the bases loaded in the third inning, which allowed Dillon the walk to home.

The Boilermaker softball squad faced a 0-2 setback vs. Omaha in the second game of the three-game series. Purdue out-hit Omaha 6-2 in the outing and committed no errors while Omaha produced one.

The series finale vs. Omaha came down to the final batter, with four runs by the Boilermakers and the walk-off at the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning before a double play by the Mavericks ended the game. With it, softball fell 5-6 to Omaha.

Purdue opens its Big Ten slate this weekend at Michigan. Originally slated for a Friday-Sunday series has been moved to a Sunday-Monday schedule due to inclement weather. Saturday and Sunday’s game times will remain at 2 p.m. and 1 p.m. ET, respectively, while Monday’s contest is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET. Follow @purduesoftball for the latest schedule updates.

70 ON THE WINTER SPORTS ACADEMIC ALL-BIG TEN LIST

Purdue Athletics landed 70 student-athletes on the winter sports Academic All-Big Ten team, recognizing their outstanding classroom performance.

The 70 honorees for the 2023-24 winter sports season bested last year’s mark by the department by four. Combined with the fall Academic All-Big Ten list, Purdue has 143 student athletes garner the scholastic distinction.

To be eligible for Academic All-Big Ten, student-athletes must be enrolled full-time at their university for a minimum of 12 months and carry a cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 or higher.

Swimming & diving produced 66% of the award winners (46 of 70). The women’s program tallied 28 honorees, while the men added 18. Wrestling totaled 11 members on the list. Men’s basketball placed 10 on the academic squad with a trio from the women’s team earning the distinction.

 Twenty-three Boilermakers were tabbed to the Academic All-Big Ten Team for the third or fourth time in their careers. Purdue had 43 multi-time honorees in the winter.

A trio of Boilermakers garnered the laurel for their fourth time in their careers – Kendra Bowen and Maycey Vieta from women’s swimming & diving and Michael Leveille from wrestling.