Forty-eight wins, three losses.

That is the Wisconsin women’s swimming and diving team’s record in Big Ten dual meets over the past 10 seasons.

The Iowa women’s swimming and diving team heads north today to face off against the Badgers. The diving competition will start at 3 p.m., and swimming will begin at 5 p.m.

The AquaHawks know they face a daunting task in their Big Ten opener — Wisconsin returns 23 letter-winners from a team that finished 7-2 overall and 14th at the NCAA championships last season.

“They bring a challenge, but we’ve got a lot of individuals that can compete with their swimmers,” Iowa assistant coach Frances Malone said. “We’re going to put it all in the pool and try to catch them off guard.”

Wisconsin is led by junior Maggie Meyer, a three-time All-American who won three events in the Badgers’ opening meet last week. The U.S. national team member picked up a NCAA championship qualifying mark in the 100 backstroke as well.

Meyer is also one of the swimmers on Wisconsin’s highly regarded medley relay team that finished second at the NCAA championships last season.

“Wisconsin is a tough opponent,” senior cocaptain Stacia Johns said. “A lot of people in the swimming world are saying that this is the toughest Wisconsin team that there has been in a long time.”

In last season’s meeting with the Badgers, the AquaHawks lost at home, 206-92 — swept in every single swimming event. Furthermore, Wisconsin holds a 21-11 record all-time against Iowa.

Despite nearly everything going against Iowa, though, the AquaHawks relish their underdog role.

“I think [being the underdog] is just motivation for us,” Johns said. “We’re looking to go up there, have fun, and swim some fast times.”

Although the Big Ten schedule starts this weekend, Iowa head swimming coach Marc Long said the swimming season doesn’t peak until February and March.

“It’s always nice to shake the rust off a little bit,” he said. “It’s just an opportunity to break from training and go out and compete.”

Both squads come into the meet with 1-0 records — Iowa and Wisconsin defeated Truman State and Wisconsin-Milwaukee in their Oct. 9 openers.

The AquaHawks will try to build on their victory last week, in which they won all but one event.

Junior cocaptain Verity Hicks and senior Julie Feingold finished first in two events to lead Iowa to the victory against the Bulldogs. Sophomore cocaptain Danielle Carty and senior Christine Kuczek had a first- and second-place finish in individual events, in addition to swimming on a first-place relay team.

“With this meet [against Wisconsin], it’s just all about racing,” Kuczek said. “You need to not look at the times. It’s just all about beating the person next to you.”