AMES, Iowa- The Cyclone swimming and diving team (0-0, 0-0 Big 12) will head north to face the Minnesota Golden Gophers (1-0, 1-0 Big 10) this Friday night.
“Minnesota is a top ten program, two years ago they had three national champions on their team and they have a tremendous tradition of winning,” head coach
Duane Sorenson said. “They have fast swimmers, and great divers. One of the former divers won a medal in this past Olympics, so we know it's going to be a challenge.”
The Gophers always prove to be great competition for the Cyclones and this year is no different. The team swept this week's Big Ten Conference Weekly Awards, with Swimmer of the Week, Diver of the Week and Freshman of the Week honors.
“We set up our schedule so that we have meets we know we can win, meets that will be a great dual meet, and then meets that they will be a challenge,” Sorenson said. “This meet will be one of those challenge meets.”
This meet will also mark the first dual meet competition for the new Cyclones.
“We are telling them to just go out and do their best,” Sorenson stated. “They will be really nervous and really excited because it's their first travel meet, but we are telling them to be really relaxed and just go out there and do the very best that they can.”
The Cyclones will face fierce competition in the backstroke events facing-off against reigning Big Ten Swimmer of the Week Tess Behrens. The junior placed first in three events in their season opener against Michigan last weekend. Behrens finished with a time of 55.58 in the 100 backstroke and 2:02.06 in the 200 backstroke. Behrens was also a member of the 200 medley relay team which finished with a time of 1:42.40.
Last weekend at the Cyclones annual Intrasquad meet, Paulson finished first in the 50 freestyle event with a time of 24.34. Wistey also earned two individual wins with a first place finish in the 100 breaststroke, touching the wall with a time of 1:05.94.
The Cyclone divers will also see plenty of challenging competition. For the Gophers, Junior Lauren Votava earned her first Big Ten Diver of the Week honor after wins on both the 1-meter (319.43) and 3-meter (314.55) boards. Both of her scores were NCAA Zone Diving qualifying marks.
Last weekend at the Intrasquad meet, freshman
Elyse Brouillette lead on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards. She finished the 1-meter with a score of 269.25 and a score of 269.70 on the 3-meter board.
The Cyclones will open their regular season with the meet slated to begin at 5 p.m. CDT at the University Aquatic Center.