The Iowa women’s swimming and diving team will head to the Shamrock Invitational in South Bend, Ind. The two-day championship-style event will begin today and ends on Saturday; it will feature three teams — host Notre Dame, Iowa, and Northwestern.

Incarnate World of San Antonio was originally supposed to compete in the event, but poor weather conditions canceled the team’s travel plans.

Iowa has faced both the Irish and the Wildcats this season, losing to Notre Dame in the Hawkeye Invitational but besting Northwestern in Evanston, Ill., on Jan. 25.

Because this meet is in a preliminary/finals format, it’s heavily beneficial for team — the Big Ten championships will also consist of this type of racing.

“This weekend will be a pretty nice setup going into Big Ten’s because it’s kind of the same lineup, so it will be a nice practice run for that,” senior Abbey Tuchscherer said. “We’ll have some great competition going into [the Shamrock Invitational] as well, so being able to take advantage of that type of competition is important as well.”

These type of meets are often very intense, and head coach Marc Long wants to impress this on his swimmers.

“[I’m expecting] gutsy racing. There’s little rest and a lot of relays; it’s all about stepping up and touching out the person out next to you,” Long said. “We’re heading into a really outstanding competition.”

Iowa has not competed in this meet since the 2011-12 season, when it lost both duals, one to Notre Dame and the other to then-No. 14 Ohio State.

This is the Hawkeyes’ last true test of the season, on paper, as the only meet remaining after this one is the senior meet against Western Illinois, a team that has won one meet all season. That meet is scheduled for Feb. 7.