Iowa State Falls to Rutgers

AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State swimming and diving team (3-2) fell to Rutgers (1-1, 0-1 Big Ten) 166-134. The Cyclones were unable to hold onto an early lead as Rutgers picked up steam as the meet went on.

The first race of the night was neck-and-neck throughout, with the Cyclones pulling ahead of the Scarlet Knights by .16 seconds. Emily Haan, Martha Haas, Wyli Erlechman and Elynn Tan kept the event win streak alive with their season-best time of 1:44.43.

The Cyclones took many close seconds with time differences of less than a second. Haas' time of 1:04.72 in the 100 breast finished .04 seconds behind first and Lucia Rizzo's time of 2:06.48 was only .41 seconds behind first.

The 50 free proved to be a tight race, with Tan ultimately leading competitors with her time of 23.65. Her time came in at .12 seconds ahead of Rutgers swimmer Sofia Chichaikina.

In the 1000 free, Nolwenn Nunes, Keely Soellner and Kami Pankratz took second through fourth. Soellner and Pankratz improved their 1000 free times on the season as Soellner touched at 10:37.67 and Pankratz at 10:48.65.

The Cyclones dominated the 200 breast as Haas (2:22.44), Bryn Ericksen (2:26.08) and Lehr Thorson (2:27.13) finished first, third and fifth. The finishes set Iowa State on the path of trimming down the 36-point deficit.

Following the 200 breast, Soellner (5:08.73), Nunes (5:11.50) and Rizzo (5:15.10) claimed second through fourth. The momentum carried into the 100 fly, as Tan and Erlechman went first and second with their times of 56.42 and 57.23, respectively, bringing Iowa State within 21 points of the Rutgers.

"I thought we had some really good races," head coach Duane Sorenson said. "Martha Haas coming back and winning the 200 breast after getting touched-out in the 100 breast, I was really pleased with that. Elynn Tan did outstanding in both of her individual races, the 50 free and the 100 fly. Wyli Erlechman did fantastic in the 100 back and 100 fly. We had a lot of really good swims, some other swimmers kind of put too much pressure on themselves to try too hard. This is all about a learning experience about how is the best way to approach this mentally and physically to get the best performance."

In one-meter diving, two Zone cuts were posted by Michelle Schlossmacher Smith (276.20) and Dana Liva (274.30). The scores mark Schlossmacher Smith's fourth and Liva's second one-meter Zone cut. On the three-meter, Jayna Misra and Liva finished third and fourth with Misra's score of 270.50 and Liva's 269.45.

ON DECK- Kansas Classic/Mizzou Invite

Iowa State returns to competition as the swimmers and divers split up. The divers head to Columbia for the Mizzou Invite from Nov. 21-23 and swimmers to Topeka for the Kansas Classic Nov. 22-24.

Follow the team on Twitter (@CycloneSD) or on Facebook at facebook.com/cyclonesd for in-game updates, post-meet recaps and results throughout the season.

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Players Mentioned

Bryn Ericksen

Wyli Erlechman

Emily Haan

Martha Haas

Dana Liva

Jayna Misra

Nolwenn Nunes

Kami Pankratz

Lucia Rizzo

Michelle Schlossmacher Smith

Keely Soellner

Elynn Tan

Lehr Thorson

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