Iowa swimming and diving displays solid swimming despite losses
Iowa swimming and diving lost Michigan this weekend, but it had some impressive swimming, beating some personal records along the way.
November 4, 2018
Iowa swimming and diving had a big weekend as it hosted a triangular against Denver and a ranked Michigan team.
The Hawkeyes swam away with only one team victory — the men defeated Denver, 256-95.
“Obviously, we wanted to win,” head coach Marc Long said. “In one case with Michigan, you saw some of the top times in country happening right here. In fact, several are No. 1 in the country. We just wanted to face that, and we were able to beat them in certain events. As a team, we weren’t able to get that from the point’s standpoint, but we are really proud of how they race.”
Iowa, of course, aimed for the win over ranked Michigan. However, the Hawkeyes do not have too much to be upset about, because they had some of their best performances of the season this weekend. Some of the standouts were from the divers and the men’s relay teams.
Women’s diver Jayah Mathews won both the 3-meter springboard and the 1-meter on Nov 2. Mathews performed her second-best score of her career in the 3-meter (348.30). She continued her hot streak as she dove a career-best in the 1-meter (306.40).
“I just wanted to compete like I’ve been training,” Mathews said. “I’ve been training really well to keep beating my personal records. I just want to keep competing well for the big meets later on in the year. There are little technical things in the dives I can improve on, but I am just trying to keep consistent with all of my dives. My goal for this whole year is just to improve and get better placings than last year.”
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Iowa closed out both days with a victory from the men in a relay race. On Nov . 2, the quartet of Steve Fiolic, Joe Myhre, Will Scott, and Jack Smith finished with a season-best time of 2:57.43 in the 400-free relay. They continued the hot streak on Nov. 3, posting a win in the 200 relay at 1:20.30, also a season-best.
“We have been working hard on our relays,” Smith said. “We got a good group of guys and work together every day in weight and the pool. We are confident in both freestyle relays, and it’s just good to see what we put into the pool in our racing. It’s always tough to race against big opponents, but it’s good for us to see that early so we know what it takes to be Big Ten champions.”
Iowa may not have not have come out of this triangular with numerous team victories, but it was a good building block to see what kind of times it will have to race against in its peak meets.
“Everything is a process, and we are building toward February and March,” Long said. “We train to race, and they had an opportunity to race some of the No. 1 people in the country. When you look at some of those women’s times, some of those people coming in here are future Olympic medalists. For us that is something we need to compete in and be beating.”
Iowa will send two women and five men to compete in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge in West Lafayette, Indiana, on Saturday and Nov. 11.
