Swimming & Diving Set for Big 12 Championship

AUSTIN, Texas – The Iowa State swimming and diving team (6-5, 2-1 Big 12) will return to the pool for postseason action when it travels south for the 2016 Big 12 Championship. The meet kicks off Feb. 24 at the Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center in Austin, Texas, and competition will conclude Feb. 27.

Tickets can be purchased in the form of an all-sessions pass covering prelims and finals each day or can be purchased individually for each finals session. Tickets will be available at the doors.

The Cyclones find themselves entering the postseason in a situation very similar to last year's, which ended with the best finish at the Big 12 Championships in program history. In 2015, Iowa State entered the meet with a 2-1 record against Big 12 foes, but was coming off a loss to Kansas to end the regular season.

This season the Cyclones again hold a 2-1 conference record, featuring head coach Duane Sorenson earning his 100th dual win in a victory over TCU, a come-from-behind win against West Virginia and most recently a close defeat at the hands of Kansas.

The experience gained at last year's meet and a familiar pattern of events leading up to the meet gives Sorenson and the Cyclones confidence that they can repeat a top-two finish at the Big 12 Championship for the first time in team history.

“They [Kansas] beat us in a dual meet here at our pool, but the score was very similar to what it was last year. So we're thinking, 'OK the score was the same in the dual meet and we beat them [at the Big 12 Championship] last year so we have a shot at them,'” Sorenson said. “It's going to take our team depth and everyone really stepping up and doing a great job to get second place [again].”

Sophomore Kasey Roberts, who set school records in the 200 breaststroke and 200 IM at 2015's Championship meet, said her message to the team and to the freshmen who are preparing for their first conference championship meet was to emulate the energy level the Cyclones had last year.

“Last year was a ton of fun and we were just super excited at the end and coming away with best times for everybody and hopefully [we'll have] great racing and high places [again],” Roberts said. “It's a lot of pressure, it's a lot of excitement and just staying relaxed is key to great races and having fun.”

Fans can follow along with the 2016 Big 12 Championship meet at the Iowa State swimming and diving team's Twitter account (@CycloneSD) and check back at cyclones.com at the end of each day's events for a full recaps and results.