The Iowa men’s swimming and diving team entertains its first real test of the year today when No. 17 Minnesota rolls into town.
The Hawkeyes have been dominant in the pool so far this season, posting wins against Illinois-Chicago, 155-57, and Michigan State, 188-91.
The young Iowa squad has had a chance to grow up a bit in the pool this fall, but Minnesota poses a bigger challenge than the Hawkeyes have yet seen.
“It’s obviously going to be a tough meet,” head coach Marc Long said. “They’re a talented team with a very strong history. They’ve raced three top-20 teams already this fall, so already they’ve had a strong exposure to some great racing. They’re very talented, very well-coached, and they have great tradition. We expect a really tough meet.”
The Gophers have maintained a top-20 ranking this fall even after starting the year 0-3, no doubt because of their early season schedule.
Minnesota opened the year with a 16-point loss to No. 23 Florida State in Tallahassee, followed by a home loss to No. 1 Florida. In the Gopher’s third meet of the season, they fell to No. 12 Wisconsin by 18 points in Madison.
The Gophers graduated 13 athletes last spring from a team that finished 25th at the NCAA meet, then brought in the No. 11 recruiting class of 2016, according to SwimSwam.com.
One of Minnesota’s biggest strengths is on the platform, with Matt Barnard returning for his junior season having been crowned an All-American and finishing third on the platform in Iowa City last spring at the NCAA Championships.
Minnesota returns two other divers in junior Dylan Zoe and senior Manny Pollard that finished top 20 on the platform last spring. Pollard also earned honorable mention All-American honors in the one-meter diving.
Junior Jakub Maly will also try to make an impact for the Gophers against the Hawkeyes. Maly holds school records in the 200 breast and 400 individual medley and placed 25th at the NCAA Championships last spring in the 200 breast.
Maly, a native of Austria, competed on the Austrian national team this summer at the World Championships in Kazan, Russia and the World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea, in an attempt to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games.
Points in the breaststroke events will be hard to come by for the Hawkeyes. The Gophers had a very strong showing in the breaststroke events versus No. 1 Florida, sweeping the 100 and 200.
“They are a talented team, but so are we,” senior Matt Boyd said. “It should be a very competitive meet and a good racing atmosphere for both teams.”
The Hawkeyes have had success this season in the freestyle events, a trend that will need to continue if they want to take down the Gophers.
For senior Charles Holliday, beating Minnesota will have to be a total team effort.
“The key to beating Minnesota is going to be having every man on the team come together to race for the win,” Holliday said. “With everyone racing to win and gain the most points they can for the team, we’ll be in a great position to take home the win.”
A win against Minnesota would be a long time coming for the Hawkeyes, who haven’t beaten their border rivals in three years.
Long said he had an idea to help motivate his athletes.
“We ought to swim for a pig or something,” he said. “That would be fun.”
