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
2020-21 Swimming and Diving Season in Review
03.22.2021 | Swimming and Diving
AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State swimming and diving team wraps up the 2020-21 season with a record of 2-1 and 0-1 in the Big 12. In a season like no other, student-athletes accomplished numerous feats.
The 2021 Big 12 Championship marked 17 new all-time top performers, 15 improved top performers and 15 new top times. Swimmers and divers notched an all-time high of 20 All-Big 12 honors earned in one championship, topping the previous high of 19 set in 2018. Gathering 522 team points at the championship, the Cyclones notched the fifth-largest point total in program history.
Lucia Rizzo nailed down both IM records at the championship to achieve the first individual school record set since the 2017-18 season. Prior to shooting up to No. 1, Rizzo appeared at No.8 in the 400 IM and No. 20 on the 200 IM all-time list last season. The junior rose up to tie the fifth-most points scored in a single Big 12 Championship meet with 46 points, the most since 2017.
Lehr Thorson tallied the 10th-highest career point total all-time while competing at Big 12 Championships. Thorson's 110 points bests the previous No. 10 mark of 101 set by Amber McDowell from 1998-02. Rizzo enters the list to tie No. 20 with 88 points. Rizzo's 451 career points, the current team-high, brings her within 60 points from breaking into the all-time top-20.
Three Cyclones were named Big 12 Swimmer or Diver of the Week and one earned Big 12 Swimming Newcomer of the Week in the award's inaugural season. Divers Michelle Schlossmacher Smith and Jayna Misra, swimmer Rizzo and newcomer Ashley Bengtson racked up a total of four weekly honors from the conference.
Breaststrokers earned the highest number of 100 breast All-Big 12 honors in school history as four swam beside each other in the championship finals. Throughout the season, Cyclone breaststrokers accumulated 193 points, bringing in 118 from the championship alone.
Thorson cemented two NCAA 'B' cut times in the 100 breast for the second year in a row to bring her career total to four. The times add two more all-time top times to Thorson's name, as it now fills up 25 percent of the list in both the 100 breast and 200 breast. Thorson passes Imelda Wistey, who holds nine set from 2011-14, to hold the greatest amount of breaststroke top times with 10.
Rizzo recorded a new 400 IM Beyer Pool record in Iowa State's first competition of the season at the Cyclone Championship. The old record sat for 30 years before Rizzo set her then-PR of 4:20.73, over four seconds under the old mark. The 400 medley relay team of Emily Haan, Martha Haas, Trinity Gilbert and Bengtson snatched possession of the pool record with 3:46.50 in the same competition.
Divers achieved three 'A' cuts, three 'B' cuts and 17 Zone qualifying marks in total. Schlossmacher Smith ended her season at the Zone Diving Championships after becoming a three-time finalist at the Big 12 Championship. Against UNI, Schlossmacher Smith posted the second-best all-time score on the three-meter with 332.85. Jayna Misra followed suit on the one-meter to also secure the No. 2 score with 320.55.
A talented group of freshmen garnered 12 all-time top performances and five top times in nine events. The class followed closely behind the juniors who led in points with 243, as freshmen totaled 208. Brinley Horras notably notched just the fifth 500 free All-Big 12 honor in school history. Bengtson (200 free), Horras (200 free, 500 free, 1650 free), Sydney Jackson (1000 free), Alaina Breitbach (100 breast) and Joscelyn Buss (platform) all cemented their names on the all-time freshman records list.
Follow the team on Twitter (@CycloneSD) or on Facebook at facebook.com/cycloneSD for in-game updates, post-meet recaps and results throughout the offseason.
Players Mentioned
Sprint Freestyle
/ Swimming and Diving
Sprint Free/Breaststroke
/ Swimming and Diving
Diving
/ Swimming and Diving
Sprint Free/Back
/ Swimming and Diving
Sprint Free/Breast
/ Swimming and Diving
Distance Freestyle
/ Swimming and Diving
Distance Free/ IM
/ Swimming and Diving
Back/Fly/IM
/ Swimming and Diving
Diving
/ Swimming and Diving
Distance Free/Fly/IM
/ Swimming and Diving
Diving
/ Swimming and Diving
Breast
/ Swimming and DivingLehr Thorson feature
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