The Iowa football team won’t be the only Hawkeye squad traveling to Madison, Wis. The Iowa men’s swimming and diving team will also take to the road to challenge the Wisconsin Badgers.
It’s Homecoming week at Wisconsin, and the Hawkeyes will be looking to play the role of spoiler in Dairyland.
Last season, during Iowa’s conference opener against Wisconsin in the Field House, the Hawkeyes edged the bad-news Badgers, 166-134. This season, the Hawkeyes will also begin the conference slate against Wisconsin, and senior cocaptain Nick Divan said Big Ten meets are crucial.
“It’s a lot more personal, I think, because we’re going to see these guys at the end of the year, and [the Badgers are] still going to remember whether or not we beat them, how the meet went, and how respectful we were,” Divan said.
Wisconsin is a formidable opponent to say the least. The Badgers are right on the cusp of the top 25 according to the College Swim Coaches Association of America poll.
Iowa head coach Marc Long is happy to begin the season with such a challenge.
“It’s a nice chance for the team to get out of Iowa City again, and really, to go into a real tough environment and a good team,” he said. “It’s a challenge for us.”
In Iowa’s meet with Truman State last weekend, the Hawkeyes have seen major strides from freshmen, including Byron Butler, who won three events against the Bulldogs. Along with Butler, Iowa boasts 10 freshmen, which could be important in the team’s first conference meet of the season.
“We have so many new guys, we want to see them step up, and race, and compete well,” Long said. “We know it will be very challenging because they have some great experienced individuals. We’d just like to see some great racing.”
Butler, a Wisconsin native, grew up about an hour east of Madison, in New Berlin. But he said there is no extra pressure to do well.
“It’s not personal,” he said. “But [the Badgers are] a quality opponent, and we just want to give them our all.
“There will be family there supporting me, which will hopefully help my performance.”
Divan was noticeably absent from last week’s meet; the athlete said he was suspended, declining to specify the reason.
But if the Hawkeyes want to increase their chances of winning, they will need their cocaptain, the winner of the 1,000 freestyle last year against Wisconsin.
“I’m back, and I’m ready for this meet,”Divan said.
“We want to beat them on their home turf. They came in, and we beat them last year, so we’d like to keep that up and do that again.”
With their cocaptain returning this week, the Hawkeyes hope they can continue the success.
Thirteen-year strength and conditioning coach Bill Maxwell said the meet against Wisconsin is where the Hawkeyes will find out who they are.
“It was our first meet against other competition outside of ourselves,” he said. “I think they’re learning the flow of the meet. We had quite a few freshmen who we’re implementing, and they’re having to adapt to the level of college swimming.
“Truman State, yes, we did well. But we’re really going to find out how they respond to an opponent who is as good or better that what we are right now.”