The ISU swimming and diving team has been steadily improving with each meet throughout the season and is working toward the Big 12 Championship.

Even though the Cyclones lost to Illinois in their previous meet 194-106, some individual times and scores have made it clear the improvement is there.

“Our best overall meet was at the Iowa meet, and were a little flat against Illinois and didn’t get after it,” said coach Duane Sorenson. “We are doing a lot of things in practice so we can put it all together when it’s time for the Big 12 Championship.”

Despite the flat performances, the swimmers feel like the team is close.  

“Our times have improved because we are competitive in practice in a good way,” said junior Katie Vollhaber. “We are all so close and we consider each other family, so we only try to push each other even more.”

Sophomore Amanda Paulson set an ARC Pool record with a time of 23.36 seconds in the 50-freestyle and freshman Elyse Brouillette broke the 300-mark with her personal best of 300.08 on the 3-meter board to earn first place at the Illinois meet.

“We are always striving to break records, and that is what Amanda did by breaking their pool record that was set in 1995,” Sorenson said. “It’s exciting seeing all of these underclassmen do so well and [be] excited for the future.”

In the 200-backstroke, more underclassmen performed well. Sophomore Bre Loeschke took first, followed closely by freshman Marissa Engel, who took second.

Age has not been a factor for the Cyclones, and the results of the underclassmen show it. The majority of the team is currently made up of underclassmen.