The No. 19 Iowa men’s swimming and diving team will take on unranked Northwestern on Saturday with one thing in mind, winning.

The Wildcats topped the Hawkeyes by just two points last season, taking the top spot in the 400 yard freestyle relay, securing both 11 points and the meet victory, a loss that still stings some of the Hawkeyes.

Since the 2009-2010 season, the Hawkeyes are 4-1 against the Wildcats, with the only loss coming last year.

“Northwestern is a tough team, they got us last year,” head coach Marc Long said. “Just across the board they’re a tough team.”

The toughest part of the meet for the Hawkeyes will be matching up with Northwestern junior Jordan Wilimovsky. Wilimovsky was the runner up in the mile at the Big Ten conference meet last February and took fourth in the mile at the NCAA Championships last March. He currently has the No. 3 time in the nation in the mile according to USA swimming’s time report.

Freshman Chris Dawson is Iowa’s highest ranked mile swimmer at No. 58. Outside of that, however, the Hawkeyes matchup well with Northwestern well, as evidenced by last season’s score.

“It’s going to be a challenging matchup for us,” Long said. “Big Ten opponents are always fun.”

Iowa is currently one and one in the Big Ten with only the Wildcats left on its Big Ten schedule. Long said his team is still focused on the end of the year, something he has reiterated several times, but said he is looking forward to the meet this weekend.

With the end of the year fast approaching, the Hawkeyes are coming off of a long break from competition.

“We’re coming off a real tough training period,” Long said.  “We haven’t competed in quite a while.” 

The Hawkeyes last true dual meet came in a loss at Minnesota on Oct. 31st, 2014 almost three months ago.

Much of that tough training came over the long winter break and as part of the training trip.

“I think everyone wants to apply what they learned on training trip,” sophomore Brandon Farnum said. “But the main thing is to get the win.”

Newer team members of the team are looking forward to the clash as well.

“I’m really excited to be part of the team and help us win,” freshman Jerzy Twarowski said.

While the focus may still be on the championship season, Long said his team will be ready to go this weekend.

“What we want to see are hands on the wall before the other guys,” Long said.

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