The ISU swimming and diving team has been off to a good start this season, currently owning a 3-1 record. Sophomore Imelda Wistey has been a key factor in this success, recording first-place finishes in each meet so far this season.

“She’s just been super competitive every time she’s gone out and raced,” said ISU head coach Duane Sorenson. “She’s an extremely hard trainer. She really pushes herself in practice day after day to become better.”

“I’m happy with how I’m swimming and mostly how I’m training,” Wistey said. “That’s the main goal here, to train hard and then go out and perform the best I can.”

Wistey attended Grinnell College as a freshman last year, but decided in April that she wanted to transfer to Iowa State.

“I decided that I want to train more. I found my passion,” Wistey said. “I put my name out there and Iowa State answered.”

“We recruited Imelda out of high school and it came down to us and Grinnell,” Sorenson said. “When she chose Grinnell, we said the door is always open here.

“At Grinnell, she didn’t really have any competition. Here she’s got competition every day in the pool. That’s what she was looking for and that’s what she’s found.”

Wistey, a West Des Moines, Iowa, native and Valley High School graduate, competes in the breaststroke and individual medley events, and has been dominating both of late. Last weekend in South Dakota, Wistey placed first in each of the six individual events that she competed in, in addition to helping her 200 medley relay team place first on both Friday and Saturday.

“She’s doing exceptionally well. I think she’s extremely motivated,” said ISU assistant head coach Kelly Nordell. “She’s very coachable, so she’s willing to take what Duane and I say and work with it.”

Wistey opened the season at Northern Iowa by placing first in the 100 breaststroke and second in both the 200 breaststroke and 200 individual medley. She did her best to repeat this effort against powerhouse Minnesota, again placing first in the 100 breaststroke and second in the 200 breaststroke. Wistey has placed first in the 100 breaststroke in each of the Cyclones’ four meets thus far this season.

“I swim to race, I train to race and I love to compete,” Wistey said. “It’s so much fun.”

“She’s very team-oriented. She wants to do well for Iowa State,” Nordell said.

Wistey has high hopes for the remainder of both her and the team’s season.

“Duane says that we probably have the best team Iowa State’s ever seen, so I expect this team to do great things,” Wistey said. “With what we’ve done so far, I think we’ve really done great, but the season’s not over yet.

“I have high goals for myself. I’m going to give it my all and do my best and we’ll see what happens; just leave it all in the pool, put the training in and see what comes out of it.”

The Cyclones return to the pool on Nov. 18 for the Northwestern Invitational in Evanston, Ill.