Iowa State Begins 2009 at St. Olaf

AMES, Iowa- The Iowa State swimming and diving team returns to action on Friday when they travel to Northfield, Minn. to compete against St. Olaf at 6 p.m. from the Skoglund Center Natatorium. ISU defeated St. Olaf last season 185-106 in Ames and leads the all-time dual meet series 11-0.

Since the Cyclones' last meet, a 196-104 setback at Iowa, the team traveled to San Juan, Puerto Rico over the break from meets and school for their annual winter training trip.

Performance Chart

Performance Chart

“I was pleased with the yardage that we got in everyday,” said Iowa State head coach Duane Sorenson. “We were able to swim two long course practices each day and we built up our endurance and had a lot of good speed work at the end of the trip. It was very beneficial for the team.”

Iowa State enjoyed a successful start to the season, compiling a 5-2 dual meet record and also having a strong performance at the Nebraska Invitational.

“I thought we competed really well throughout the year,” said Sorenson. “I was happy with our performance at the Nebraska Invitational, the team came together and competed well. We swam well against Iowa we just didn't place well. We are on track for what we want to do the second semester.”

The Cyclone divers have also had a successful fall with all the four divers, senior Kali Fryklund, junior Tien Tran, and sophomores Justine Anders and Abby Christensen setting a combined eight personal best marks. Tran broke the school record in the 3-meter diving competition against Nebraska-Omaha with a score of 338.55.

“I have been really happy with them overall,” said diving coach Jeff Warrick. “I think they have come together as a team and they are supporting each other and pushing each other in practice. Competition wise, they have taken stuff from each meet and are applying it. We are seeing a difference in practice and hopefully we will see that in meets.”

For the second time this season, the diving field will only consist of Cyclones and the diving competition will only consist of 1-meter diving.

The coaches have both set high expectations for their student-athletes the rest of the season.

“We are going to be working on our speed up to the Big 12 Championships,” said Sorenson. “We'll use our next four dual meets for a lot of learning experience, getting ready, and fine tuning everything for the Big 12 Championships.”

“Big 12 competition is going to be tough,” said Warrick. “Those are the same divers we are going to see at the Big 12 Championships, zones and beyond. We really want to be competitive and do well and help the team overall. What I want to see from them is fine tuning in these last few meets to get ready for the championship meets and putting the final touches and the small things that will make a big difference in their scores.”

Players Mentioned

Justine Anders

Justine Anders

Abby Christensen

Abby Christensen

Kali Fryklund

Kali Fryklund

Tien Tran

Tien Tran

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