Delaquis Finishing Season Strong

It was a somewhat slow start to the season for sophomore Danica Delaquis.

Her times were strong and she consistently scored for the Cyclones in dual meets, but wasn't swimming as fast as she knew she could. As the season progressed, though, so did her confidence and rhythm in the pool.

Delaquis, a sophomore, hails from Winnipeg, Canada, where she trained to place fourth in the 100 breaststroke at the Canada Summer Games in 2013 for Team Manitoba.

“At beginning of the season everything was just a little bit off,” said head coach Duane Sorenson. “She's finally starting to get into her groove and feeling her stroke and she's gotten a lot of confidence because of that. She's felt good in practice and in the meet she's kind of putting it together, too. It's a combination of good technique and getting her confidence back.”

Delaquis is a breaststroke and individual medley swimmer for the Cyclones. She took home her first top finish of the season in the 100 breaststroke against UNI Jan. 23, tying for first place with one of the top breaststroke swimmers in school history, teammate Kasey Roberts. Both Roberts and Delaquis touched in 1:05.95 in the event and have since continued to place in the top 3 at each meet.

Along with Sorenson, Delaquis has also feels that she's gotten back into her groove, which has helped contribute to her finishes at the front of most races.

“Since the beginning of this year I've been working a lot on my technique with Duane and it kind of seemed like I was all disconnected in different ways,” Delaquis explained. “I think finally everything just kind of came together and I was able to find my stroke. Then that just carried through with my races.”

The technical improvements in Delaquis' strokes have correlated with an even more positive mentality in the pool, which can sometimes be just as important.

“I've been feeling pretty good in the water, too, so that always helps,” Delaquis said. “It's a little bit of feeling good and the positivity carrying through to my meets.”

Putting it all together at any point in the season is beneficial, but late in the year may be particularly advantageous for Iowa State with the 2016 Big 12 Championships coming up at the end of the month.

If Delaquis continues to come up strong and finish in the top-two or three spots through the end of season, her depth in the breaststroke events could help out at the Big 12s.

“It feels really good,” Delaquis said. “At the beginning of the season it was kind of frustrating and now knowing that it's coming all together and the work is paying off it just feels really good. It makes me really excited for Big 12s.”

Players Mentioned

Danica Delaquis

Kasey Roberts

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics