Meet Results
- January 13, 2018
- Cedar Falls, Iowa
- Score
- Iowa State 188.5, Northern Iowa 110.5
Press Release
Courtesy of Iowa State Athletics
Iowa State swimming and diving (4-2, 1-0 Big 12) took down Northern Iowa (5-3, 0-0 MVC) by a score of 188.5-110.5 on Saturday. The Cyclones won 10 of 16 events, sweeping four en route to the victory.
The meet started off with everything going the Cyclones’ way. The relay team of Kasey Roberts, Martha Haas, Mary Kate Luddyand Laura Miksch took the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:46.15. The relays were followed by a sweep in the 1000 freestyle, led by Keely Soellner‘s time of 10:34.48. Soellner was followed by teammates Haley Ruegemer and Jessi Storer, each clocking in under the 10:40.00 mark.
Silqi Luo would take the crown in the 200 freestyle, posting a 56.08. The Cyclones would dominate in the 100 breast. They not only swept the event, led by Danica Delaquis (1:05.88), Martha Haas (1:06.18) and Kasey Roberts (1:07.42), but fourth place was nabbed by freshman Lehr Thorson (1:08.73). The 200 fly was nearly the Cyclones’ third sweep of the event, as Luddy (2:05.07) and Kami Pankratz (2:11.96) led the way, with Grace Snyder (2:12.90) tying with UNI’s Kelsey Ostrowski for the third spot. The 50 free was a close race, with UNI’s Molly Lembezeder (24.11), the 2017 Kansas Classic Most Valuable Swimmer, touching just before Miksch (24.20). The event would then pause for diving, Iowa State ahead 88.5-42.5.
On the one-meter board, Dana Liva, the current Big 12 Diver of the Week, took the top slot with a 269.45. Sydney Ronald would take second with a 258.05, Katherine Mueller in fourth scoring 231.65. Moving to the three-meter, Ronald would take top honors with a 286.15, finally eclipsing the 280 mark to qualify for the event at Zones. She joins Liva as the second Cyclone diver to qualify in two events. Liva would have the second best score of 272.65, with Mueller scoring 210.40.
“Overall, I was really happy with how [the Iowa State divers] did,” diving coach Jeff Warrick commented following the meet. “It’s big when they pull through and I think that’s going to help their confidence the rest of the season.”
Earlier this week, the Big 12 elected Liva as the Big 12 Diver of the Week.
“It’s a huge honor,” Liva said. “I am so blessed with Jeff and my teammates. I couldn’t have done it without them. I’m really happy to represent ISU.”
Following the first diving break, UNI would take the top spot in the 100 free and 200 back, followed by two Cyclones in the second and third position. In the 200 breast, the Cyclones again showed their dominance in the breaststroke events, nabbing their third sweep of the day with the top-four times of the event by Delaquis (2:24.73), Haas (2:28.01), Ericksen (2:29.34) and Thorson (2:29.51). Iowa State would follow up the breaststroke sweep by taking the second distance freestyle event as well, with Soellner (5:08.74), Storer (5:12.72) and Ruegemer (5:13.54) swimming for the Cyclones.
The Cyclones would finish the meet with a second and third place finish in the 400 freestyle relay, winning their fourth meet of the season by a score of 188.5-110.5.
“I’m real pleased how our women came out at the beginning of the meet,” head coach Duane Sorenson said following the meet. “We knew UNI had a lot of very good individuals, so we challenged our women to race hard. A meet that should’ve been, on paper, a four-to-five point meet, we dominated.”
UP NEXT
The Cyclones travel to Morgantown, West Virginia for a double-dual with the Mountaineers and Villanova Wildcats on Jan. 27. That meet will mark Iowa State’s second of three Big 12 duals, kicking off at 10 a.m. CST.