AMES, Iowa- The Iowa State swimming and diving team travels to Illinois for a pair of meets over the weekend. The festivities start Friday as the Cyclones face hosts Illinois State and Evansville in a double-dual meet at 5 p.m. from Horton Pool in Normal. ISU faces a quick turnaround with a dual against Illinois Saturday at 1 p.m. at the ARC Pool.
The Cyclones face the Redbirds of Illinois State after a two-year hiatus and meet up with Evansville for the first time in school history. ISU will continue to see how student-athletes can contribute throughout the season by putting them in some different events.
“Both Evansville and Illinois State have a number of good individuals so we have to swim real solid,” head coach Duane Sorenson said. “We are looking to put our kids in at least one of their stronger events to get meet racing experience. We are also looking to have a number of other kids compete in their other events. We might also put some kids in different events to see what makes our team tick.”
Iowa State hosted Illinois last season and lost a closely contested meet, 169.5-130.5. The Cyclones were swept for the top-three spots in the 100 back, 200 fly and 200 IM last season, but counter with some new faces this time around. The Illini bring in an experienced team with good depth to help buoy them through meets.
“They are incredibly deep,” Sorenson said. “They have three or four women in each event that are the same as each other. It was a tremendous meet last year at our pool and we are hoping to go over there and compete well and match their depth with some of our individual stars and try to beat them in a couple of races that we may not be favored.”
The meet also serves as Illinois’s only home meet before the winter break.
“This is their only home meet of the semester at their pool so it means a lot to Illinois to perform well,” Sorenson said.
