The Iowa State women took their first win of the season against Omaha on Saturday with a 168-109 decision. Omaha’s Natalie Renshaw swept the sprint events with a 24.20 in the 50 free and a 52.00 in the 100 free to highlight the meet for her team.
Iowa State:
AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State swimming and diving team (1-1, 0-0 Big 12) notched its first win of the 2015-16 in the team’s home opener, topping Omaha (2-3, 2-1 Summit League) by a score of 168-109.
The win moves the Cyclones to 14-0 all-time against the Mavericks and brings head coach Duane Sorenson to 98 dual meet victories at the helm of the Iowa State program.
Iowa State wasted no time building an early lead, taking the top two spots in each of the first five events, including a pair of 1-2-3 sweeps for the Cyclones. Freshman Guy Shilon continued her strong start to her ISU career, taking first place in the 100 backstroke to open the night in a team-best 0:57.29.
The top Cyclone swimmer never finished lower than second place in the first seven events of the night, establishing a 94-39 Iowa State lead going into the first diving break.
“I was really pleased with how we swam, given that it was the second meet,” said assistant diving coach Kelly Nordell. “We saw a lot of improvement from three weeks ago, but I think we saw for the girls who swam really well [that] what they did in practice is reflective of what they did in the meet.”
In the diving well, it was the usual for the Cyclones with Julie Dickinson and Elyse Brouillette leading the way. Dickinson amassed a 257.63 total on the three-meter board to take first place, as Brouillette totaled 253.27 points to take second place. Ames native Maggie James made her home debut for the Cyclones, but her three-meter score was held back by a dive in which her foot clipped the edge of the board.
“I thought it was definitely a good night for us,” said diving coach Jeff Warrick. “Obviously we had some things happen that we don’t want to have happen, but we’ll use them as kind of learning experiences and really try to grow from them.”
Between trips to the diving well, Iowa State maintained control of the meet by taking first place in three of four events. The stretch included another first-place finish for Shilon in the 200 backstroke (2:03.13) and freshman Haley Ruegemer’s first career event win with a time of 5:15.42 in the 500 freestyle.
One-meter boards were much of the same for Dickinson, who again took first place with a score of 253.58. James rebounded from her earlier fault to claim second place with a score of 239.24, her highest finish on either board in her young career.
Iowa State secured the win in the 200 breaststroke when Kasey Roberts took first to win her fifth individual event of the season.
“We’re going to stay on our regular training cycle so everybody will be focused,” Nordell said. “It’ll be a difficult first part of the week, but I think more they’re going to be excited and ready to race. So we’re not backing off or anything for TCU and South Dakota.”
The Cyclones return to action on Nov. 6 for a double-dual meet featuring South Dakota and Big 12 foe TCU. South Dakota and TCU’s men’s teams will also be traveling to Ames to compete in a dual meet with events alternating between the men’s and women’s competitions. The meet is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. in Beyer Pool.
Swimming news courtesy of Iowa State Swimming & Diving.
Omaha:
AMES, Iowa – The Omaha swimming & diving team lost a hard fought battle to Iowa State Friday evening, falling 168-109 at Beyer Pool.
Despite the loss, it proved a night of season bests for Omaha as four Mavericks – seniors Natalie Renshaw and Miranda Knipfer and juniors Morgan Stepp and Tiril Jensen — registered their fastest times of the season in one or more events.
Stepp led the charge for UNO, securing season-low times in a trio of events. The Parker, Colo., native won the 200 IM (2:08.62) and finished as runner-up in both the 200 back (2:11.52) and 200 breast (2:26.77).
Jensen notched her best time of the year in the 100 breast at 1:06.49. Renshaw also won her headline events, going 52.00 in the 100 free and 24.20 in the 50 free. Knipfer took second in the 1-meter dive, inking her highest score of the year at 238.19.
The 200 free relay quartet of Renshaw, sophomore Cassandra Jahn and juniors Meredith Ricks and Mackenzie Ritter flew to a second-place finish with a time of 1:39.23, eclipsing UNO’s previous season-best mark by more than three seconds.
Omaha has the next two weeks off before returning to the pool on Saturday, Nov. 14 at Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The meet is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. from Glen F. Henry Pool.
Swimming news courtesy of Omaha Swimming & Diving.
