Today will be the first of the last for the Iowa women’s swimming and diving team.

After being on the road for the first two weeks, the squad will host the Irving Weber Meet — its first home meet of the year in the 83rd and final season of swimming in the Field House pool.

Named after Irving Weber, Iowa’s first All-American swimmer, in 1922, the event is free for all students and members of the general public.

“It’s always fun to swim in our home pool,” Iowa head swimming coach Marc Long said. “We love to race here, and we’re looking to defend our home this weekend.”

The AquaHawks will face Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Michigan State at 4 p.m. today, then wake up on Saturday for an 11 a.m. meet against Missouri State.

Michigan State and Wisconsin-Milwaukee enter the weekend with 0-1 records, having lost to Illinois and Wisconsin, respectively. Missouri State will swim against Western Illinois today in Macomb, Ill., and will travel to Iowa City directly after the meet.

Iowa has never lost to Wisconsin-Milwaukee or Missouri State and has defeated the Spartans in its last two meetings.

The AquaHawks hope to build off of their early season success this weekend.

“Always, the expectation is to win,” said senior Christine Kuczek. “It’s always nice to beat a Big Ten team, so that’s always a goal of ours. It should be a good weekend with a lot of racing.”

The squad has a 1-1 record in the young season after defeating Truman State on Oct. 9 and falling to Big Ten powerhouse Wisconsin last weekend.

Despite the overall loss, Long said, there were several positives to take away the first Big Ten meet that will help the team this weekend and the rest of the season.

The AquaHawks nabbed two first-place finishes and eight second-place finishes against a tough Wisconsin team. Several of Iowa’s veteran swimmers are stepping up to lead the AquaHawks in the early part of the season.

Seniors Laura Mozdzen and Julie Feingold each have a pair of first-place finishes this season, as do juniors Katarina Tour and cocaptain Verity Hicks. Kuczek and sophomore cocaptain Danielle Carty also have a first-place finish and a pair of second-place finishes.

Long also said that redshirt freshman and Indiana transfer Grace Borchers has been a solid addition to the medley relay team.

“We’re getting some consistent racing out of some of our more experienced swimmers, which is nice,” Long said. “The [more inexperienced swimmers] need to start getting that momentum and learning from the upperclassmen. Then things can start moving in the right direction.”

This weekend will be a good start for the AquaHawks to take a step in the right direction, especially since the schedule doesn’t get any easier as the season progresses.

“Just as in any other sport, when you’re competing in your conference, people take it to another level,” Long said. “We have to continue to keep training and working hard.”