Men’s swimming starts off strong

The Iowa men’s swimming and diving team put together an impressive performance on the first day of the Big Ten Championships in West Lafayette, Indiana, finishing the night with 100 points. The Hawkeyes will head into the second day in fourth place.

The Hawkeyes trail leader Michigan by 28 points.

“We’re happy with our start,” head coach Marc Long said in a release. “I am proud of the guys for kicking off the meet strong. We have many more exciting performances ahead of us.”

Iowa received a fourth-place finish in the 200-medley relay to start the night. Freshman Kenneth Mende, senior Roman Trussov, sophomore Jerzy Twarowski, and freshman Jack Smith clocked in with the second-fastest time in program history, touching in 1:25.67.

The Hawkeyes were sixth in the 800-freestyle relay, closing out the solid start to the meet. The quartet of Smith, senior David Ernstsson, freshman Matt Kamin, and junior Kyle Gannon swam to the fourth-fastest time in school history, 6:27.83.

Iowa will be back in the pool this morning to compete in the preliminaries of the 500 freestyle, 200 individual medley, 50 freestyle, 400 medley relay, and 1-meter diving. The finals of each event will be held this evening.

Smith, as well as senior Jackson Allen, both hold top-10 times in the Big Ten in the 50 freestyle, and they will try to make the “A” finals in the event to add to the team’s point total.

— by Blake Dowson