Heading into the third meet of the season, the Iowa women’s swimming and diving team has a chance to prove itself against a very experienced and highly touted Minnesota team.
The meet will kick off at 5 p.m. in the Campus Recreation & Wellness Center.
Iowa is 2-1 on the season, with wins against Michigan State and Northern Iowa and a loss to Michigan. In fact, Iowa will face ranked teams in Boise State and Indiana. In addition, seven Big Ten teams are also currently ranked by the Endless Pools/Collegeswimming.com poll that is based on performance during meets.
But not everyone takes stock in the various rankings.
“We don’t really take them into account, it’s nice to compare them to ourselves and other people, but that’s about it,” senior Karolina Wartalowicz said.
Regardless, the Golden Gophers come in ranked No. 12 in the nation and have had a consistently good program over the last several years. When the two teams faced off in Minneapolis last year, Minnesota was also ranked 12th, and the team dominated the Hawkeyes.
Head coach Marc Long scheduled tougher dual meets this season, because he felt it would better prepare his team for competitions later in the year. And he certainly knows what he’s getting into when Minnesota comes to town.
“They’re a highly ranked team, and they’re very loaded. They were Big Ten champions last year, and they are very deep,” Long said. “However, this is all part of the process heading into the end of the year to get more exposure to elite teams.”
Senior Emily Horven knows how good Minnesota is and believes that improving on the finer points is what will allow the Hawks to be competitive.
“We’re really focusing on our technique, turns, starts, relay exchanges, we’re really fine tuning everything to make sure we’re primed and ready to go,” she said.
It’s not hard to imagine the Hawkeyes winning quite a few more dual meets. In addition, this year’s Hawkeye Invitational features some very good teams that will also be the Hawk’s first tournament style meet this season.
“A win would be great, and we’re definitely going to be competing,” Wartalowicz said.