RELATED: Iowa splits with Minnesota in second Big Ten dual meet

After the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams faced off against a talented Minnesota team last Saturday in Iowa City, the competition will get even tougher this weekend.

The women will welcome the Michigan Wolverines, ranked No. 11 in the TYR dual meet poll, to the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center at 2 p.m. today, while the men will travel to Bloomington, Indiana, to face No. 6 Michigan and the 4th ranked Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday morning.

“We want to face the best this year, and certainly Michigan and Indiana — if you look at historical [records] in the Big Ten — these are the two top teams with national titles fairly recently. I mean, you’re going to see Olympians at this meet,” head coach Marc Long said. “So, we want our team to face that early in the season as we prep, and we’re so young, especially on that women’s side. A meet like this is great. But we’re going to step up and race hard and give it our best shot.”

The Michigan men took home the 2013 team national championship, defeating perennial powerhouse California.

Currently, the Michigan men and women are both leading the Big Ten standings, while the Indiana men’s team is second in the conference. Iowa, though, is only one spot back in third for men’s and sixth in the women’s conference standings.

The Hawkeye men’s team, ranked 23rd nationally, is coming off of an impressive 156-144 victory over the 25th ranked Golden Gophers and is eager for its next challenge.

“I’d go to war with my guys any day of the week,” senior captain Forrest White said, who is rehabbing from injury. “I think they’re ready, they’re excited. The freshmen have brought a great energy to the team, and I think that coming off of Minnesota a dual meet win, just keep snowballing off of that and keeping the confidence up. I think they’re going to go do some special things in Bloomington.”

Last season, Michigan’s men defeated the Hawkeyes 232-121 in Iowa City. The Wolverines were ranked 7th nationally at the time.

Saturday will be the first time that Iowa has faced Indiana since 2014, when the Hoosiers came out on top 195-102.

In last year’s clash with the then-fifth ranked Wolverine women, Iowa fell 255-97. However, the Hawkeye women are excited to see how they stack up against the best the Big Ten has to offer.

“We are so excited to race them they’re great competition and we only get better by going against them,” junior captain Sage Ohlensehlen said. “Also, I think that we have a better team this year than we’ve had for the past few years, so I think we’re going to surprise some people.”

Next on the Hawkeye’s schedule is a women’s meet at 2 p.m. next Friday against another Big Ten opponent, Rutgers, at the CRWC. Then, both Iowa squads will make their way up to Minneapolis for a mid-season test at the Minnesota Invitational in Gopher country.