The Iowa swimming and diving teams will start the championship season today with the women’s squad competing at the Big Ten Championships in Bloomington, Indiana.

The competition will run today through Saturday, with today’s opening session beginning at 5:30 p.m. Preliminaries will take place at 10 a.m. beginning Thursday, followed by the finals at 5:30 p.m.

This will be a redemption meet for the Hawkeyes — they finished the regular season duals 6-6 but 2-4 against Big Ten opponents.

But the women’s team is solid, and it has enjoyed top performances from both the underclassmen and the juniors and seniors.

Junior Hannah Burvill and sophomores Kelsey Drake and Jayah Mathews have been three of the most consistent Hawkeyes all season. All enter the Big Ten meet in the top 10 of their events.

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Mathews ranks No. 1 on the 3-meter and No. 3 on the 1-meter springboard. She has been phenomenal all season, diving her way to three Big Ten Diver of the Week honors. Mathews and freshman Sam Tamborski have torn up the boards all year, combining for nine first-place finishes.

Burvill is next best, heading into the meet ranked in four events.  She is No. 6 in the 50 free (22.55), No. 6 in the 200 free, No. 8 in the 100 free, and No. 10 in the 500 free. Burvill also has reached NCAA “B” qualifying standards in the 50 free, 200 free, and the 500 free. She has the school record in both the 50 free (22.55) and the 500 free (4:44.24).

Drake has also had fantastic performances this season. She is No. 10 in the 100 fly and No. 12 in the 200 fly. She broke the school record in the 100 fly at the Hawkeye Invitational (53.12). That mark was good enough to reach the NCAA “B” qualifying standards.

Another young gun who has been fantastic all season is sophomore Sarah Schemmel; she made her presence known in sprints with two victories in the 50 free. She also has the third best time in school history in the 100 free (50.15). If she continues, she is likely to beat the 100-free record before the end of her college career.

Seniors Kelly McNamara, Abbey Schneider, and Devin Jacobs have helped pave the way for the rest of the team. All three have posted top times in the school record book during their last season.

Jacobs sits at the fifth-fastest 400 individual medley (4:21.19). McNamara ranks in the top 10 in six events: the 100 fly, 200 fly, 200-free relay, 400-free relay, 200-medley relay, and 400-medley relay. Schneider has five top-10 times: the 500 free, 1,000-free, 1,650-free, 400 individual medley, and 800-free relay.

Aside from individual events, Iowa will also be deadly in the relays. The Hawkeyes hold top-10 times in all five of their relays: sixth in the 200-free relay (1:31.36), seventh in the 400-free relay (3:20.16), eighth in the 200-medley relay (1:40.63), ninth in the 400-medley relay (3:41.01), and ninth in the 800-free relay (7:18.87).

The Hawkeye women have put up impressive numbers all season, but team unity will truly help them. Their goals for each week consist of personally improving both in the pool and cheering on their teammates. If they bring that same energy to the Big Ten Championships, they should have no problem grabbing some podium finishes.