Iowa vs UNI dual meet
- October 1, 2021
- Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Natatorium, Iowa City, Iowa
- Short course yard (25 yards)
- Team scores:
- UNI W defeat Iowa W 159-133
After falling behind the University of Iowa early on in the Friday meet, the University of Northern Iowa came back to win six events and take the meet by 26 points. This marks the first time UNI has ever beaten its in-state opponent, and it turned out to be a competition of depth that UNI handily won.
This meet was the season opener for both teams, though UNI did have an intrasquad meet last weekend. It was Iowa’s first meet as a women’s-only program under new head coach Nathan Mundt, who took over the team in the offseason when it was reinstated after initially getting cut alongside the men’s swim and dive team.
UNI placed fifth, out of eight teams, at the Missouri Valley Conference Championships in 2021. At last season’s Big Ten women’s championships, Iowa placed eighth out of 11 teams.
Due to last year’s COVID-19 restrictions, the two teams didn’t meet to compete against one another. The two teams have met 21 times before Friday, with Iowa winning every single match-up.
The meet was led by UNI swimmers who had never faced Iowa before. Sophomore Amber Finke took 22 individual points home for the team, and freshman Faith Larsen followed with 13.
Finke took an early lead by winning the 100 backstroke with a time of 57.43. The second- and third-place spots in the 100 were also taken by the Panthers. Finke is one of the team’s 19 returning members, and she is the defending MVC champion in the 200 backstroke, with a time of 1:57.72. Finke also won the 200 backstroke on Friday with a time of 2:04.88.
The Panthers would go on to win two more events before the diving break – sophomore Lily Ernst in the 100 butterfly going 2:06.59, and Larsen in the 50 freestyle, going 23.98.
Freshman Hallory Domnick won the 100 butterfly with a time of 58.11, and the 400 freestyle relay team won by over two seconds, a time of 3:34.15.
This meet was just as much about depth for the Panthers as it was about winning events. Iowa won more events, taking home 10 overall event wins compared to UNI’s six, but UNI had a strong showing by multiple swimmers in all of their events. This allowed the team to rack up points and edge out Iowa. For comparison, UNI has over 30 swimmers listed on its roster, compared to Iowa’s 12.
Iowa began the night with a strong showing, winning the first three events. The women won the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:45.76, junior Anna Brooker won the 1000 freestyle with a time of 10:37.78, and junior Kennedy Gilbertson won the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:53.92.
Junior Aleksandra Olesiak shined the most for the junior Hawkeyes. She won three individual events: the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:05.66, the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:24.01, and the 200 Im with a time of 2:10.02.
Despite the Hawkeyes’ strong performance in the pool and on the boards, they just didn’t have enough people to secure the dual meet win.
Iowa will compete next against Minnesota on October 8. UNI will take on Iowa State on the next day, October 9.
