Women’s swimming and diving will have a chance to earn two points for Iowa in the battle for the Cy-Hawk trophy this weekend.
The Hawkeyes, winning 7-6 in the seventh-annual Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk series, will host the Cyclones at home at the Campus Recreation & Wellness Center at 6 p.m.
"In recent years, whoever the home team is has been the team that has won," junior captain Danielle Carty said. "So we take the dual meet very seriously because we want to make sure people know Iowa is a Hawkeye state."
Last season, the Hawkeyes could not come out of the matchup in Ames with a win. Iowa State’s strong relays got the best of Iowa and gave the Cyclones a 166-133 victory. The home team has won the competition in each of the last four years, but Iowa does lead in the all-time record, 21-14.
"They always come ready to race us," junior captain Daniela Cubelic said. "On paper it doesn’t look like they even match up, but for some reason every time we race them they put down some really fast times."
The Cyclones have won five of the six dual meets they have competed in this season. Minnesota was their only loss, and the deficit was much smaller than Iowa’s 180-114 loss to the Gophers in November.
"All dual meets are about racing," Cubelic said. "But it’s more about our pride on the line too. It’s more than just swimming when we race Iowa State."
Both teams swam well in their last competitions.
The Cyclones placed second out of six teams in the TYR Northwestern Invitational in Evanston, Ill. They posted many career best times and picked up four wins in the three-day competition.
Sophomore Danielle Harris had two of those wins in the 100 and 200 backstroke.
Iowa is coming off a strong third-place finish at the Hawkeye Invitational last weekend. The Hawkeye relays performed well, and the team turned in many personal best and winning times.
Senior captain Katarina Tour and freshman Haley Gordon both set pool records last weekend. With a time of 1:02.53 Tour set the pool record in the 100 breast stroke, and Gordon posted a 4:22.04 record time for the win in the 400 individual medley.
The Hawkeyes will try to keep the momentum.
"I think we have to use that rivalry to motivate us more," Cubelic said. "We don’t have to shut it out; we have to embrace it. If we can do that I think we will come out on top for sure."
While the Hawkeyes are confident in their ability to pull out a win this weekend, they are not underestimating their opponent.
"When Iowa State comes to Iowa City they are not the same team that they are in the rest of the season," Tour said. "And I don’t know if we are the same, but the bottom line is that they are a great team when they swim against us."