ISU swimmers and divers will attempt to put an end to their 376-day home winless drought when it hosts a two-day meet against Kansas beginning Friday evening.

The Cyclones (6-3-1, 1-1 Big 12) finished their road season unbeaten, when they defeated Ohio and West Virginia last weekend in a double-dual meet. This is the first year Iowa State has finished a season with an unbeaten road record in ISU coach Duane Sorenson’s 17-year tenure with the Cyclones.

Home meets have been a different story for Iowa State, as it has dropped all three competitions in Ames and has been outscored 493.5 to 406.5. The last time the Cyclones went winless throughout a season at home was eight years ago, and the meet against Kansas is their last opportunity to keep the streak from going to nine.

For Sorenson and the swimmers the off-balanced home and road records are mostly due to the strength of competition the team has faced in away meets compared to at Beyer Hall pool. The combined record of the team’s road competition is 21-41-1, but 21-13-1 of opponents swimming in Ames.

“Our better competition has been here at Beyer,” Sorenson said. “Iowa, TCU and Illinois are all great teams, so it’s just kind of this cycle that we’re on. I think the other teams have come here and really stepped up their game, and put together some really great meets.”

Swimmers say the change of atmosphere has also helped get them prepared for road meets.

“I think we’ve gone into road meets pretty confidently,” said senior Katie Vollhaber. “The meets we’ve had here have been against tough competition. We’ve been ready for it, but they’re just teams that have a little bit more of an edge than we do.”

The swimmers and divers hope to carry the momentum from last weekend into their final meet against Kansas (7-4, 0-1 Big 12).

“With our performance this past weekend, I expect big things,” said senior Emily Wiltsie. “Every one was looking really good this past weekend and feeling confident.”

The meet will be senior day for the Cyclones, and divided into two days. The first half of the meet will begin at 6 p.m. Friday and the second half will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday.

“[A win] would be huge,” Sorenson said. “It’s a Big 12 opponent and it’s senior day. [Kansas] is a very good team. It’d just be nice to finish it off, and put a nice exclamation point on our season so far.”