The Iowa State swimming and diving team won a comeback thriller over conference opponent West Virginia Saturday afternoon in Beyer Hall, 157-143. The Cyclones rallied from eight-down with two events remaining to improve to 7-3 overall and 2-0 in Big 12 duals on the season.
Today’s matchup marked just the second time the Cyclones dueled with the Mountaineers, and Iowa State now holds the series lead, 2-0.
“After having two stents put in and seven bypasses, I control my emotions, but it was getting a little stressful there,” Iowa State head coach Duane Sorenson said after the dual. “I was very pleased with the way they came back and won the meet.”
Despite winning only two of the first seven events, Iowa State showed strong depth, trailing by just one point heading into the first break, 66-65. Those two victories came from Cyclone seniors Sarah Deis and Amanda Paulson in the 200 and 50 freestyle with times of 1:53.90 and 0:23.41, respectively.
“Ultimately, our depth played a huge role in the meet today. Even though we didn’t win a few of the races, getting second, third and fourth helped us win the meet,” assistant coach Kelly Nordell said.
The Cyclones trailed 128-136 heading into the final two events, but an Iowa State sweep of the 400 IM thanks to Kasey Roberts (4:30.40), Deis (4:32.15) and Marissa Engel (4:33.15) put ISU back on top, 144-139.
The Iowa State relay team of Paulson, Savanna Townsend, Maddie Rastall and Laura Miksch put the nail in the coffin, taking the 200 freestyle relay in a time of 1:35.14, a new season best for the Cyclones.
“Today we wanted to put together something in the first half of the meet, but maybe that’s just our mentality. We know that we’re strong in the back half,” Nordell said. “We feel very confident about our IMers, so we feel like we can put them in a position with stress and they are going to respond, and they did.”
On the boards, sophomore diver Julie Dickinson rewrote the Iowa State history books with her performance in the three-meter event, becoming the ninth-best performer in school history with a score of 294.00.
For eight Iowa State swimmers, today’s victory marked the final time they will take the pool in Beyer Hall. The 2014-15 senior class defended their home venue well, posting a 6-1 record when hosting dual meets on the season.
“It’s my senior year, so I want it to be intense and I want it to be a good meet, and it really was,” Iowa State senior distance freestyler Samantha Fossum said.
On Deck:
Iowa State will travel to Lawrence, Kan. for a two-day event against the Jayhawks on Friday, Feb. 6 and Saturday, Feb. 7. The meet will be the final dual of the 2014-15 season for the Cyclones before the Big 12 Conference Championships in Austin, Texas starting Wednesday, Feb. 25.
The West Virginia University women’s swimming and diving team recorded nine first-place results in a narrow dual-meet fall at Iowa State on Saturday afternoon in Ames, Iowa.
The Mountaineers fell by a score of 157-143 to the Cyclones.
“I’m really proud of these ladies,” said coach Vic Riggs. “It was a long day of travel yesterday, and we were up early today. There were definitely some challenges against us and they responded great.
“Overall it was just a great meet. We did much better against them than last year and being this close is great motivation for conference.”
West Virginia grabbed first, second and third in the women’s 100-yard butterfly. Julie Ogden led the way in first place in 56.99, while Celia Martinez and Natalie Johnsen tied for second in 57.60.
Emma Skelley swept the women’s 500- and 1,000-yard freestyle events. The 1,000 free saw Skelley finish first in 10:16.32 while the 500 free saw her race to first in 5:03.35.
Jenelle Zee just missed out on a sweep of her own, earning first in the women’s 100-yard breaststroke in 1:04.36 and second in the women’s 200-yard breaststroke in 2:23.68.
In the women’s 100-yard backstroke, Amelie Currat hit the pad first in 57.34. Currat also placed second in the 200-yard backstroke in 2:03.35.
In the women’s 200-yard butterfly, Natalie Johnsen claimed first in 2:05.03. Kelsey Frantz took third in the event (2:09.42) and Mackenzie Braden finished fourth (2:09.78).
“We had some great doubles early on with Kelsey (Frantz) and Mackenzie (Braden) getting more points than we expected,” Riggs said.
The women’s 400-yard medley relay team of Currat, Zee, Ogden and Jaimee Gillmore hit the wall first in 3:51.58.
Haily VandePoel earned a sweep on the women’s 1- and 3-meter boards. VandePoel recorded a mark of 305.25 on the 3-meter board and scored 276.08 on the 1-meter to claim first in both events.
Also on the 1-meter board, Lindsay Schmidt placed second with a 268.94 mark, while Jenn Rey took fourth overall with a score of 255.22. Schmidt and Rey finished third and fifth, respectively, on the 3-meter board.
“Our divers came through huge today,” Riggs said. “They got us back into the meet along with our one-, two-, three-finish in the 100 fly."
The men’s squad travels to Ohio State for a dual meet with the Buckeyes on Friday, Jan. 30, at 5 p.m., while the women will host Ohio on Saturday, Jan. 31, at 4 p.m. in the final home meet of the season at the WVU Natatorium.
