Swimming and Diving Face Nebraska-Omaha Saturday

10.10.2008 | Swimming and Diving

By: cyclones.com

AMES, Iowa- The Iowa State swimming and diving team faces its first opposition of the season when Nebraska-Omaha visits Beyer Hall on Saturday, Oct. 11 at 1 p.m. The Cyclones have been preparing hard for this season with a rigorous fall workout schedule.

“In the fall, on Tuesday's and Thursday's, we have them run the Jack Trice Stadium steps,” swimming coach Duane Sorenson said. “We go out to the football stadium and do various exercises running on the lower half up one side and down the other side.

Alumni Gathering Photo Album

Photo Album

“Then on Monday, Wednesday and Friday we're in the weight room where we do a circuit and have about 20 stations with different exercises they work on. They do 30 seconds on 10 seconds off and they will try to get as many lifts as they can and then they spend half an hour doing stationary biking. Also on those days we go to the pool for about an hour of smooth easy swimming that we call conditioning swimming.”

The Cyclones saw only two seniors depart from last season's squad and will look to a strong core of senior captains in swimmers Marni Benson and Britt Samuelson, and diver Kali Fryklund for leadership this season. Benson captured All-Big 12 honors in the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke and holds the school record at the 200-yard distance (2:15.84) in 2008. Fryklund earned all-conference honors in the platform dive last season.

“We always ask the seniors to be leaders no matter what season it is. Lindsey Wegner is a senior that is doing a good job. Krista Moyer is coming back after having a baby and we are pretty excited to have her back in the mix. Also, Maddie Crawford, who moved from distance into breaststroke this year, was a captain last season so I think we have great senior leadership and they are pretty motivated,” Sorenson said about his senior class.

Another all-conference performer for the Cyclones is junior Abby Glaser. Glaser has garnered All-Big 12 honors in the 100 butterfly in her first two seasons as well as setting the school record in the event (54.17) last season. Another junior on the rise is Frances Calzada. Calzada was one of the teams leading sprinters last season before a knee injury limited her participation the rest of the season. Sorenson is excited to have both of them aboard this season.

“Abby Glaser is an all-conference performer and a school record holder. We are expecting great things out of her and she is expecting great things out of herself. Frances Calzada, who was injured and had knee surgery after the season last year, in the sprint freestyle was swimming great before she injured her knee in December and is starting to pick it back up and is looking really good.”

The Cyclones other returning all-conference performer is sophomore Jeli Nixt. Nixt earned All-Big 12 honors in the 100-yard breaststroke.

The Cyclones welcome 11 freshmen to the team and while they have yet to compete against an opposition, Sorenson is looking to them to step up for the upcoming season.

“Taylor Vieau is doing a really good job in practice and so is Hannah McCulley and we have not seen their best races yet, the 200 butterfly. They are doing a nice job training and I think they are going to help us along a lot in that event. For the rest, it is a learning experience for them and for some of them it is just a little overwhelming. I think as the season goes on we will see one or two more step up.”

Another addition to the Cyclone swimming program is new assistant coach Kelly Nordell. Nordell was an assistant coach at Nebraska from 1988-2001 and was the head coach of the Des Moines Swimming Federation from 2001-2008.

The Cyclone divers return two All-Big 12 performers as well. Joining Fryklund on the team is junior Tien Tran. Tran's performances in the 3-meter as well as platform earned her all-conference honors last season. Iowa State diving coach Jeff Warrick is looking forward to what Tran can accomplish this season.

“I have high expectations for Tien, this is going to be the year that she comes out right from the beginning at a high level and we are going to help her get to the NCAA Championships. I see that as a very challenging and realistic goal that she can accomplish. She is going to help the team in dual meets all year long and she is going to be up there with the best divers in the Big 12.”

The Cyclones welcome three new freshmen into the fold as well. That group is led by Ames native Lauren Naeve and Warrick is excited to have her as a member of the Cyclones.

“She has been diving with me since she was nine years old. Even though she does not have a lot of national level experience, she has the experience of diving 1-meter and 3-meter all of these years. I am excited to see what is going to happen with her now that she is diving year-round.”

The Cyclones also bring Jenn Botsch and Sarah Nelson into the fold as well and Warrick sees them being a factor for the Cyclones this season as well.

“Jenn has a lot of experience already. She has national level experience and we are going to build on that. Sarah Nelson does not have a lot of experience outside of high school diving but she has a lot of talent, she is a great athlete, and she is going to come along. It is going to take a little longer but she is going to be exciting to watch and she is going to be a big part of our program if not this year, the years to come.”

Last Friday, the Cyclones hosted their intrasquad meet, which the Gold team prevailed in 118-106. The meet was also a chance for swimming and diving alumni of the past to see the team and talk about their time at Iowa State. Sorenson appreciated the people that came back and what they had to say.

“It was really a special weekend because some of the people had not been back for 10 or 20 years. And for them to come back and be supportive of the program it was really nice. A gentleman who graduated in 1973, really emphasized to tell the team how important the letter is and how much it connects you to Iowa State University and he was pretty emotional about that and how it changed his life. So we talked to the team about that and how special it is to have that many people come back that follow us on the internet and in the papers and it was not just the women, it was the men who cared about the sport and would like to see it return to Iowa State.”