The ISU swimming and diving team faces Iowa at Beyer Pool on Friday as part of the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series. The Cyclones are coming off a third place finish at the Northwestern Invitational a few weeks ago.

The host team has won the last five meets of the Cy-Hawks series. The Cyclones hope this trend will continue through Friday.

“It’s always good to be at home,” said ISU coach Duane Sorenson. “You have the home crowd. You’ve got your home facility. You’re very comfortable.”

Cyclone junior Dani Harris placed first in each of her three individual events in last season’s loss at Iowa. This included a 200m backstroke time of 2:00.97 and a 200m individual medley time of 2:03.38, just .33 seconds shy of Iowa’s pool record for that event.

“We’re way confident because this is our pool and home pool advantage really has a lot to do with things,” Harris said. “You have to really take advantage of it and use it to the best of your abilities.”

The long-time rivalry between the Cyclones and Hawkeyes is playing largely into the emotions of Friday night, as well.

“If you can’t get up for this meet, I don’t know what you’re going to get up for,” said ISU diving coach Jeff Warrick. “It plays a big part. We know that they’re going to come out strong and so are we so it should be fun.”

Staying focused and confident is a key goal for Iowa State going in. With the matchup being close, swimmers and divers alike know that their best performance will be required.

“When you go into that meet, you’ve got to go in confident. There’s no other way to it,” Harris said. “We virtually match them so it depends on who wants it more and who’s prepared.”

There is a high level of familiarity between the two teams, adding even further to the intensity of the series.

“The coaching staffs both know each other very well,” Sorenson said. “Our swimmers and divers know each other because they competed against each other through the upper Midwest. Both teams have recruited a lot of the same kids. It’s going to be a great competition for both teams.”

The meet is set to begin at 6 p.m. Friday at Beyer Pool.