Duane Sorenson - Swimming and Diving Coach - Iowa State University Athletics

Duane Sorenson

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
dsoren@iastate.edu
Phone:
515-294-3185

After leading the Iowa State women's swimming and diving team for 27 years, Duane Sorenson, the program's winningest coach and second-longest tenured head coach for an ISU women's sport, announced his retirement on March 25, 2024. The dean of Big 12 women’s swimming and diving coaches, Sorenson’s Cyclones earned All-Big 12 honors 237 times while he led Iowa State to 141 of its 240 all-time dual meet victories. He is the only coach in program history to top the century mark in dual meet wins.

Sorenson concluded his Cardinal and Gold career with a 141-114-2 (.553) dual-meet record, posting six or more dual victories 11 times with five top-three finishes at the Big 12 Championships, including four-straight from 2014-17. Ten Cyclones competed in 30 different individual events at the NCAA Championships on Sorenson's watch.

Across his tenure at Iowa State, Sorenson earned a respected reputation for developing talent and getting the best out of his athletes, both in and out of the pool. Sorenson continued to get his team to reach new heights year after year, as all school records fell a combined 122 times under his tenure.

Under Sorenson, Iowa State became on of the Big 12's top breaststroke programs, producing 54 all-conference honors among 14 swimmers. All Top 20 swimmers in the 100 and 200 Breaststroke have come on Sorenson's watch.

The Big 12 Conference has recognized Sorenson for his accomplishments, naming the Cyclone head coach Co-Swim Coach of the Meet at the 2001 conference championships and Swim Coach of the Meet in 2015 after the Cyclones finished second at the conference championships with a program-record 618.5 points.

Under Sorenson, Iowa State has become one of the Big 12’s top breaststroke programs, producing 54 all-conference honors among 14 swimmers. All-top 20 swimmers in the 100 and 200 Breaststroke have come during Sorenson’s tenure.

2022-23 for the Cyclones included a 6-3 record with marquee dual meet wins in Iowa City against the Hawkeyes and in Fort Worth for a Big 12 victory against TCU. Iowa State also performed well in multiple invites coming in first at the Kansas Classic and finishing 2nd at the Big 12 Championships, a feat Sorenson has only completed one other time at Iowa State. The team also collected 21 All-Big 12 Honors, a record for the program.

2021-22 saw the Cyclones match the 2009-10 Cyclone squad with a program record eight dual victories during the regular season, a run of victories which included ISU’s first over Iowa since 2009 and conference dual victories against TCU and West Virginia.

The Cyclones’ double-dual meet against South Dakota and TCU on Nov. 6, 2015, was a historic meet for Sorenson, as Iowa State’s pair of victories that night brought him to the century mark. Sorenson became the first coach in program history to reach 100 dual meet wins with a 171-129 victory over South Dakota and a 169-130 triumph against TCU. Sorenson is one of 17 head coaches all-time in Iowa State Athletics to win at least 100 contests with the Cyclones.

The 2009-10 season was historic for the Cyclones, winning eight dual meets for the first time in school history. Iowa State collected victories against Iowa, Illinois State, Evansville, South Dakota, South Dakota State, Northern Iowa, Green Bay and Nebraska-Omaha. At the Big 12 Championships, the Cyclones broke 10 school records across the four-day event, with 2010 NCAA Championships qualifiers Nan Liu and Tien Tran combining for three All-Big 12 performances.

Since taking the position as the Cyclones’ head coach, Sorenson’s teams have not only made great strides in the pool, but have achieved success in the classroom as well. Iowa State’s grade-point average is consistently among the best in the conference and the nation. Iowa State most recently placed a program-high 23 student-athletes on the Academic All-Big 12 First Team. The Cyclones set the second-highest amount of 22 in the 2019-20 season. As a team, Iowa State earned CSCAA Scholastic All-America team honors every semester since 1990.

Before coming to Iowa State, Sorenson was head coach of the South East Metro Sharks (SEMS) Swim Club. As coach of the Sharks, he received the Minnesota Chapter of the American Swimming Coaches Association’s Coach of the Year award five different times. In his 20 years with the club, Sorenson led the team to five championships and 11 runner-up finishes at state competition. More notably, he tutored 67 junior national qualifiers and 25 senior national qualifiers throughout his tenure at SEMS. From 1987-97, more than 120 of Sorenson’s swimmers graduated to the collegiate level.

Sorenson also served as the head coach for the Woodbury High School girls’ swim team. While coaching the Royals, Sorenson’s squads captured four conference titles, won four sectional championships, had one state runner-up finish and captured one state title. His accomplishments earned him the 1991 High School Coach of the Year award in the State of Minnesota.

Sorenson also held the head girls’ swimming coach position at Park/Woodbury High School (1982-85), Park Senior High (1979-81) and Tartan High School (1977-78), all in Minnesota. Sorenson coached swimmers at these schools to three sectional championships and four conference titles.

During the 1978-79 season, Sorenson was asked back to his alma mater, Bemidji State University, as an assistant coach for the men’s team. He helped guide the Beavers to a fourth-place NAIA national finish.

As a student-athlete at Bemidji State from 1973-77, Sorenson was a member of the swimming team. During his junior and senior seasons he was an NAIA All-American and co-captain. In 1976, he swam to a Northern Intercollegiate Conference championship in the 200 breaststroke.