Swimmers, divers ready for Big 12 Championships
Junior Imelda Wistey, comes up for air and prepares herself for her last stroke in the 200 breaststroke relay during the dual meet against South Dakota and Nebraska on Friday, Oct. 26, at Beyer Hall. Wistey finished with the best time in the event of 2:22:63. The meet results ended with Cyclones defeating South Dakota 246-53 but falling to Nebraska 122.5-176.5.
February 27, 2013
The ISU swimming and diving team left for Austin, Texas, on Feb. 25 to avoid the Feb. 26 snowstorm en route to the Big 12 Championships, which begin on Feb. 27.
Iowa State (4-5, 0-1 Big 12) will face four other Big 12 teams at the four-day event, which will feature prelims starting at 10 a.m. every day as well as final races and heats around 6 p.m.
“This is our opportunity to compete at the highest level,” said swimming coach Duane Sorenson. “We want them to swim at their fastest and take advantage of what they have been doing in training all season.”
Sophomore Amanda Paulson currently leads the team in event victories and has enjoyed many successes in the pool this season. Paulson will compete in the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle.
Junior Imelda Wistey has been the next most successful swimmer during the regular season. Wistey earned nine individual first-place finishes and was a part of relay first-place finish. She will compete in the 100 and 200 breaststroke and the 200 individual medley this week.
“We are also interested in seeing how our distance swimmers are going to do,” Sorenson said. “Kristy Kunkel, Elizabeth Kliner and Samantha Fossum have really been training well this season, so we are hoping they can step up and do a great job.”
The diving team will be led by senior Marley Dobyns and freshman Elyse Brouillette as both have done well off of the 1-meter and 3-meter platforms this season. This will be the first Big 12 Conference meet for Brouillette and the last for Dobyns.
Dobyns is coming off of her best scores all season against Kansas.
“You can be good, bad or great in warm-ups but when it counts is when it really matters,” said diving coach Jeff Warrick. “The mindset we want to have when we are going down into the Big 12 Championships, when the lights and pressure are on, we want to maintain confidence in what we have done.”
The Cyclones have had enough time during the past couple of weeks to perfect their strokes, turns, relays and dives. The team hasn’t had a competition since Feb. 9, but has plenty of time to practice all the important events.
