Purifoy assaults recordbook

By Kyle Ringo
The Metropolitan

Dan Purifoy waited patiently. He practiced hard but mostly he waited.
Then all the patience and practice paid off. Purifoy qualified for the Division II national swimming and diving competition Nov. 15 in Metroâs dual meet with the Colorado School of Mines.

Qualifying has been Purifoyâs dream for four years now as a diver at Metro. He finally made it despite some tough scoring.

ãThese judges, I think, were pretty tough,ä Purifoy said. ãAnd I made it anyway.

ãI think I deserve this one. I called up my dad and told him I made it. He was screaming and hootinâ and hollerinâ.ä

In the process, Purifoy managed to set a school record in the 1-meter diving with a score of 271.7.

He is getting accustomed to setting school records, though.
The record he broke was his own and one he had set earlier this season. He credits coach Brian Kennedy for any improvement.

ãI think his work speaks for itself,ä Purifoy said.

It is the second time in a young season that one of Kennedyâs divers has qualified for nationals while setting a school record. Freshman Cari Lewton did it Nov. 1 in 3-meter competition.

Kennedy said he is pleased for the pair but not satisfied.

ãIâm comfortable with it,ä Kennedy said. ãBut I always feel like I have to push them one step further.

ãThe first of the season started out slow, but I think they realized they had to learn some harder dives, so the intensity of practice picked up.ä
Swimming coach Rob Nasser said he expects similar results to start coming soon from his athletes.

ãThey need to build up their endurance and rest after that,ä Nasser said. ãSo itâs a hurry-up-and-wait thing.

ãThere could be that one meet where they just break out.ä

Todd Schmitz (backstroke), Leslie Heath (butterfly), and Angela Hillsten (100 fly) all did well against Mines, Nasser said.

He expects them to join past national qualifiers Kristin Schweissing and Scott Watson in this seasonâs push for the springtime event.

Thanks to Purifoy, they now know all the patience can pay off.