Iowa swimming and diving will host its second home meet of the season when it takes on Minnesota at 5 p.m. Oct. 27 in the Campus Recreation & Wellness Center Natatorium.

The Minnesota’s women’s team is ranked 17th, and the men’s team is ranked 21st. However, those rankings haven’t shaken Iowa’s confidence.

“I think we’re going to beat them for sure,” freshman diver Anton Hoherz said. “I think that being at our pool, and being extremely comfortable, and just our whole team dynamic, I think we stand a really good chance.”

Hosting a meet comes with its advantages, the main being comfortable with the location as opposed to being out of place at another pool.

“You don’t have to test out any of the boards, you don’t have to test out any of the spotting; you already know all of that stuff,” Hoherz said. “You’re very comfortable, and you know the pool like the back of your hand.”

For the diving team, specifically, it’s all about taking what its learned in practice and performing to that high standard.

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In the past six weeks, both men’s and women’s diving has been working on certain sets of skills during practice that have built early season confidence.

“We’re all looking really solid right now in all of our diving, and I feel like for this point of the season, it’s still early on, we’re looking really good for where we’re at in the season,” junior diver Jacintha Thomas said. “I think we’ve got a good shot at showing them what we’re made of and giving it our best shot.”

In the swimming lanes, the team is just excited to compete.

The focus has mainly been on conditioning and working hard during practice, because the squad hasn’t had a meet since the beginning of October.

“We’re anxious to race,” head coach Marc Long said. “Minnesota historically is an outstanding program and is always up there in the NCAA and the Big Ten certainly. We’re excited to step up against such a quality team.”

The swimming team has worked hard in practice with different types of workouts to try to get ready.

The excitement doesn’t just come from getting the chance to compete, but also watching others.

“I’m mainly looking forward to seeing some fast racing,” senior Mekenna Scheitlin said. “We’re all really excited to get in, and Minnesota is a great team, so I know we’re excited to race them and just focus on putting everything we have into the water.”

This meet is also Senior Day for the swimming and diving teams, because of the lack of home meets this season. The Hawkeyes will recognize 19 seniors.