The Iowa swimming and diving team battled with No. 21 Minnesota in the Campus Recreation & Wellness Center on Oct. 27 in a meet that had a lot for the Hawkeyes to be proud of.
The men’s team beat No. 21 Minnesota, 162-139, taking 10 of the 16 events.
Swimmer Kenneth Mende contributed with individual wins in the 100 and 200 backstroke. He was also part of the 200-medley relay.
“It doesn’t really matter what time we go, as long as we get the points at the end of the day just to help and support the team,” Mende said. “But I had two really good races, and in the 100 IM I got in third, but that was a really good time, so I’m happy with that this early in the season.”
Mende’s time in the 100 backstroke (48.59) comes in seventh all time for the program.
Jerzy Twarowski also posted three wins, and Jack Smith and Joe Myhre followed with two each. Other Hawkeye swimmers to win were Daniel Swanepoel, Michael Tenney, Michal Brzus, and Will Scott.
“It was really exciting, we were able to do really well,” Myhre said. “[With] our relays, we just really stood out and we got the job done.”
In the diving well, Will Brenner and Anton Hoherz both posted wins. Hoherz scored a 383.50 on the 3-meter dive, good for third in the school’s history.
The Hawkeyes went out this weekend just to compete. The focus wasn’t on times but more on just fast racing and competing.
“That was the only goal for this meet,” Myhre said. “You know, we didn’t really care about timings that much, we just wanted to get our hands on the wall first and we did.”
In beating Minnesota, Mende said, it was all about preparing and just performing as the better team.
“It was a really cool meet, we did really well,” Mende said. “I’m not sure if Minnesota expected us to beat them. I don’t know how well they prepared for this meet, but we were the better team tonight, and it was really fun to race with the team and see us [beat] them.”
Winning the meet was a good indication of where the men’s team is at this early in the season.
“These guys are hungry, I mean it’s a hungry, talented bunch, but we just have a lot of work to do, and we all recognize its early, but certainly it’s a little bit of a measuring stick,” head coach Marc Long said. “We know that it’s a long road, so we’re excited but we know we have a lot of work to do.”
The Iowa women’s team lost to the 17th-ranked Gophers, 190-109.
Sophomore Hannah Burvill led the Hawkeyes, finishing second in the 200 free, 100 free, 500 free, and the 400-free relay.
Following the meet, the Hawkeyes will look through the performances and fine-tune what they did wrong. The Minnesota meet will prepare the team for their next competition, at Purdue on Friday.
