ISU Faces Iowa in Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk Series

AMES, Iowa- The Iowa State swimming and diving team travels to Iowa City Friday for its Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk series showdown with Iowa at the Field House Pool at 6 p.m. The Cyclones took down in-state rival Northern Iowa over the weekend 201-88.

Last season, Iowa State took down Iowa 152-148 in Ames to clinch the Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk series for Iowa State. ISU head coach Duane Sorenson said it was a team victory that gave the entire team a boost for the rest of the season.

Performance Chart

Performance Chart

“It gave us a lot of confidence, we had not beaten them for a couple of years,” said Sorenson. “It was a total team victory, everyone stepped up.”

Sorenson also went on to talk about how every place counts in a competition like the Iowa meet.

“Getting first place is important, but in a meet that close, getting fifth instead of sixth is as important,” said Sorenson. “It is always fun to be in a competition like that because both teams swam well and competed well.”

The Hawkeyes just posted a strong second-place showing at the Missouri Invitational over the weekend and Sorenson had praise for the progress they have made. Sorenson pointed out some spots where Iowa State can pick up points.

“Iowa had a nice recruiting class and their upperclassmen are swimming better than they were last year,” said Sorenson. “We are going to be competitive in the breaststroke with Marni (Benson) and Jeli Nixt. Last year, Lindsay Wegner came thorough in the backstroke, so we are hoping for a repeat performance there. Our sprint freestylers are comparable, Frances Calzada has been red hot the past few meets and Abby Glaser is a big meet swimmer. In the 100 butterfly, Abby should be favored and then we are going to have to come through in the other races to have a chance to beat them.”

The diving squad did not face any diving opposition from Northern Iowa last weekend, which allowed for many of the divers to post season and career-best scores. Diving coach Jeff Warrick thinks that the relaxed environment from last weekend will not affect them this weekend.

“The divers knew UNI would not have divers and they tried to approach it like any other meet,” said Warrick. “With seven divers, it is already very competitive within the team; so they were pushing themselves to do well. They know what is coming and they have strong competition at Iowa and beyond.”

Diving will be very important for the Cyclones and the pressure will be there. Warrick talked about how his team plans on handling the pressure.

“A lot of what we talk about is that each individual is different. Some like the spotlight and when the pressure is on and I tell them to relish in it, it is a big meet, and you like the competition. The others just need to be calm and relax if they do not like that kind of pressure then we talk about handling distractions and let the distractions go by the wayside.”

This will be the Cyclones last dual meet for over a month, before they travel to Northfield, Minn. to take on St. Olaf on Jan. 16.

Players Mentioned

Frances Calzada

Frances Calzada

Abby Glaser

Abby Glaser

Jeli Nixt

Jeli Nixt

Lindsay Wegner

Lindsay Wegner

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