The Iowa Hawkeye women have struggled in the pool in recent seasons. Last year, they finished 9th in the Big Ten and their only NCAA qualifiers were a pair of (very talented) divers.
They have, however, begun to build themselves a bit of a niche in the distance freestyle events, where for the 2nd-straight year they’ve brought in a great freshman recruit.
This year’s grab is Jessica Wolf, who collegeswimming.com ranks as the #48 recruit in the class, nation-wide, but when examined on an event basis, is the 2nd-best miler in the class (behind Arizona-commit Bonnie Brandon). She’s also slotted as the #2 swimmer in the state of Wisconsin for the Waukesha Express Swim Team. Wolf was also a member of the NCSA All-American squad that recently took a trip to Japan to compete.
Wolf is definitely a distance-specialist, with bests already of 4:51.84 and 16:14.04 in the 500 and 1650 freestyles. Outside of those, her next-best time is a 4:26.6 in the 400 IM. But that’s just fine for Iowa, who is looking to simply increase their talent pool and build some momentum for the program.
She will join current freshman Rebecca Stoughton, who at the team’s intrasquad meet this year posted a 4:53.4 in the 500 and a 9:569 in the 1000, which have moved her into 5th and 4th on the program’s all-time lists already. And that’s only after one meet. (Wolf’s best times in the 1000 and the 1650 would both be school records). The pair, next fall, should make up two parts of a hugely-improve 800 free relay.
The Hawkeyes also have received a verbal from Maddie Bro, who is the defending Iowa Female Swimmer of the Year. (Central Iowa Aquatics/Ames High). She’s one of the best Iowan swimmers we’ve seen in a few years, so it was important for the Hawkeyes to grab her (and an important recruiting battle against her home-town Iowa State Cyclones). Bro is a speedster, with bests in the sprint freestyles of 23.87/51.4 and in the 100 back of 55.87 (a Juniors cut). That gives her immediate-impact status on Iowa’s relays.
She’s off to a huge start this year, with a 52.8 in the 100 free in an early-season dual meet already.
Thinks are looking up in Iowa City. The brilliant new facility could be a part of it, but these two signings seem to be the result of some hard work by the Iowa coaching staff to find under-the-radar recruits who will be very good at the NCAA level.