The ISU swimming and diving team is ready to take on a big challenge in this weekend’s Northwestern TYR Invitational in Evanston, Ill.

Last year at this meet the Cyclones came away with a second place finish, right behind Northwestern, who is the team to beat at the Invitational.

“Northwestern has tremendous team depth across the board,” said coach Duane Sorenson. “They really don’t have any weaknesses.”

The team has been working hard getting ready for this weekend’s meet, mostly trying to focus as much as they can. In their preparation, the swimmers and divers have also been looking ahead to future meets.

“Getting ready for a meet like this is big,” Sorenson said. “It’s really just a tune-up for the Big 12 Championships.”

The team has been focusing on times more than anything this past week, and also has been working on having a good mentality not just during the race, but at all times.

“It’s all about times,” Sorenson said. “Little things like focusing on your start are important. If you’re just going through the motions and some things, you’re going to lose time.”

The women have been working specifically on speed this week. The focus has been on getting what Sorenson called “that body signature” in the water, so that instead of fighting the water, they can flow through it.

Sorenson said if there are any swimmers expected to have a big meet, it would be Emily Wiltsie, who had an excellent performance against Northern Iowa. Also Dani Harris is another swimmer to watch.

As for the divers, coach Jeff Warrick knows the competition is good, but he also expects the Cyclones to step up and rise to the competition.

“This meet is more focused than the past ones,” Warrick said, “and since they’re able to focus more, hopefully our scores will show that.”

The divers for Iowa State have been focusing this week on not balking, Warrick said. He went on to say they have improved in that respect this week, and it will hopefully show.

Northwestern has a strong set of divers to complement their swimmers, led by two sisters. Felicitas Lenz is a sophomore who narrowly missed the NCAA’s as a freshman, and her younger sister is Cosima Lenz, a strong freshman.

“It is going to be a challenge,” Warrick said, “and it’s going to be good for us to go up against this competition, and hopefully it will bring the best out in them.”

The meet begins Friday and runs through Sunday.