Although the Iowa women’s swimming team finished eighth on Feb. 21 in the Big Ten championships at Ohio State, the Hawkeyes set 10 school swimming records along with one diving record.

Feb. 20 saw three Iowa school records broken in the 400-medley relay, 100 butterfly and the 100 breaststroke.

The relay team of Meghan Lavelle, Emma Sougstad, Carly O’Brien, and Becky Stoughton finished with a time of 3:38.68 in the 400-medley relay, beating the mark set in last year’s Big Tens, 3:39.54.

Sophomore Sougstad just missed her goal of finishing under one minute by .05 of a second but still set a Hawkeye record in the 200 breaststroke, finishing at 1:00.04, beating the record set by her last season of 1:00.14. 

Feb. 21 brought not only two more school records in swimming along with one in diving, but a Big Ten title with senior Becky Stoughton finishing first in the 1,650 freestyle.

She finished with a time of 1:57.43, crushing her previous personal best of 16:03.42 she set in 2012. 

“I’m proud of Becky’s performances this weekend,” Iowa head coach Marc Long said in a release. “She battled back, overcame adversity, and had a tremendous senior year at the Big Ten championships, capped off with a thrilling victory in the 1,650 freestyle.”

The victory in the 1,650 was a sweet finish for Stoughton, who is wrapping up her final season with the Hawkeyes.

To add to Stoughton’s Big Ten title, she also broke a school record in the 200-butterfly preliminaries, finishing with a time of 1:58.28 and a time of 2:00.74 in the finals. 

The diving team also added to the list of school records in platform diving by sophomore Lydia Lehnert, who scored a personal best and of 312.20 in the preliminary round. 

“Lydia was outstanding in the prelims, setting a personal best and school record on the platform,” Iowa diving coach Todd Waikel said in a release. “That talent is what we see in practice, and I was happy she was able to bring that performance today.”

Lehnert finished sixth with a score of 257.90 in the finals.

Despite the ranking of Iowa’s divers compared with the other teams, Waikel still was thrilled with the team’s finish.

“I couldn’t be happier with our girls tonight,” he said in a release. “We got two divers in the finals and set a school record, which was exciting to watch. It’s our goal to get to the finals session and battle once we get there. These girls continue to improve, learn, and grow as divers, and I’m happy they’ve been able to put it all together.”

Minnesota took first in the Big Tens, scoring 588.5 points, and Indiana took second place with 559 points. 

Although the Hawkeyes finished eighth at 209, the 10 school swimming records along with the one diving record meant the team finished the season on a high note. 

Follow @RodEngblom on Twitter for news, updates, and analysis about the Iowa women’s swimming and diving team.