Completed Event: Swimming and Diving versus Big 12 Duals on January 16, 2026 , , 5th, 781 points
Final
Swimming and Diving
Big 12 Duals
5th, 781 points
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Iowa State University Athletics
Photo by: Liz Parke/Big 12 Conference
Miksch Breaks Record, ISU In Fourth
02.22.2018 | Swimming and Diving
AUSTIN, Texas – After day two of the 2018 Big 12 Championships, Iowa State swimming and diving (4-5, 1-2 Big 12) sits in fourth place with 176 points. Laura Miksch would break her own Iowa State 50 free record twice during the second day of the conference meet.
PRELIMS
Iowa State started the day off strong, putting four into the 500 free finals, led by Mary Kate Luddy swimming the ninth-fastest time in school history of 4:51.92. Haley Ruegemer, Keely Soellner and Jessi Storer will all swim for points the 'B' heat in the night session. The Cyclones put two into the 200 IM finals, Silqi Luo in the 'A' heat and Emma Ruehle in the 'B' heat, each posting personal-best times. Luo moves to 10th on Iowa State's top performers list in the event. Laura Miksch would take second in the 50 freestyle with a school record-setting time of 22.60, while Harper Emswiler and Evan Hundley would use personal-bests of 23.39 and 23.45 to qualify for the 'B' heat. Anna Andersen also qualified for the 50 free 'B' race.
In the diving well, Dana Liva qualified for finals by posting a 267.80, good for seventh in preliminary competition. Sydney Ronald would finish 12th, scoring 244.20.
Outside of the finals qualifications, Kat Jones set a new PR time in the 500 freestyle. Ali Basel and Danica Delaquis would each set a new personal-best in the 200 IM, but Delaquis would end up just shy of a finals appearance, as she placed 17th among scoring-eligible participants. Rachel Resch would also set a PR of 23.88 in the 50 free.
FINALS
Opening up the finals was the 500 freestyle. Mary Kate Luddy earned All-Big 12 Second-Team honors by placing sixth in the event, posting a new personal-best time of 4:50.68. Luddy also moves to third all-time in school history swimming the 500 free. Haley Ruegemer and Keely Soellner stayed up front in the consolation final, taking third and fourth in the heat, 11th and 12th overall, with Jessi Storer finishing in 15th.
In the 200 IM finals, the lone pair of Cyclones represented well. Silqi Luo would finish in eighth with a 2:04.32, while Emma Ruehle laid down a PR time of 2:05.05 to finish 13th. The 50 free would feature the second school record by Miksch, who broke her own school record in prelims. Her finals time of 22.53 would best her own 22.60 from the preliminary round, finishing fourth overall. Emswiler would win the consolation final by improving her own personal-best with a 23.18, putting her sixth on Iowa State's top performers list. Evan Hundley and Anna Andersen would finish in 15th and 16th respectively.
"It felt pretty great," Miksch said following the evening session. "I'm excited about this whole week, I'm excited for the next few days for both myself and the team. I think everyone is pretty pumped and everyone is going to get rested tonight and come back really excited tomorrow."
In the diving well, Dana Liva put up a 271.35 to remain in seventh-place. She trailed West Virginia's Calcut heading into the final dive, where Liva would score a 45 to surpass the Mountaineer.
"I just listened to Jeff," Liva said after the meet. "I was thinking to myself 'just do what you know how to do' and apparently what I know how to do
The 400 medley relay team of Emswiler, Roberts, Luddy and Miksch would finish fifth, posting the fourth-fastest time in school history with a 3:42.72. The Cyclones would end the day in fourth, trailing third-place West Virginia by 23.
"Tonight we had a really good meet," head coach Duane Sorenson said. "It was highlighted by Laura Miksch setting the school record in the 50 free. She just got touched out for second. We have got a little work to do to get back to third place, but I'll think we'll have a good meet tomorrow morning and we can come back tomorrow night and score a lot of points."
Players Mentioned
Sprint Free/Back
/ Swimming and Diving
IM/Mid. Distance
/ Swimming and Diving
Breast/IM
/ Swimming and Diving
Back/Fly/Free
/ Swimming and Diving
Sprint Free/Back
/ Swimming and Diving
Distance Free
/ Swimming and Diving
Diving
/ Swimming and Diving
Dist. Free/Fly/IM
/ Swimming and Diving
Free/IM
/ Swimming and Diving
Sprint Free/Breast
/ Swimming and Diving
Sprint Free/Fly
/ Swimming and Diving
Diving
/ Swimming and Diving
Distance Free/IM
/ Swimming and Diving
Mid. Distance/Back
/ Swimming and Diving
Distance Free
/ Swimming and Diving
Distance Free/Fly
/ Swimming and DivingThursday, July 22
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Wednesday, December 19
Monday, December 10
