There is an endpoint to every time that everyone works and strives to reach.

The ISU swimming and diving team hits that moment on Wednesday, when the team heads to the Big 12 Championships in Austin, Texas, for seven meets before the end of week.

“This is the point we have been working towards all season,” head swimming coach Duane Sorenson said. “It’s our number one goal that everyone will go out and swim their personal best – and if we do that, everything else will take care of itself. We have a team goal to be ahead of Nebraska when it’s all said and done, and we know that is going to be a very strong challenge – but it is definitely doable.”

The team has had its difficulties with Nebraska, falling to the Huskers twice this season. The swimmers and divers have struggled with Big 12 teams consistently throughout the regular season, with their most recent loss coming at the hands of Kansas just two weekends ago in Ames.

“Historically, we’ve gone into the Big 12 meet with women like Kansas and Nebraska who have been ahead of us in previous meetings, and we do really well in the championship meet,” said Sorenson. “We just keep reinforcing that when we get to the Big 12 Championship meet, we can race with anybody, so it’s a belief factor that they can compete.”

The Cyclones are hoping for success from many of their swimmers who have been doing consistently well in this season and have continued to excel in practice, as well.

“Both Marni [Benson] and Abby [Glaser] have been doing very well this season, and with the added tapering [to increase momentum and speed] this past week, I feel they are ready to compete and have a really good chance at doing extremely well,” Sorenson said.

Sorenson also said it is important for the team members to worry about own their own performances and not their competition’s.

“The key is to find an easy speed, to swim at a fast pace and sustain that tempo in the race – but more importantly, all we can control is what we can do,” Sorenson said. “We can’t control what other swimmers or divers do. We’re going to go out and swim our best and compete and do the best we can do each session.”

More importantly, the team has focused on this race since the beginning of the season, and the swimmers are eager to see their hard work pay off at the Big 12.

“We know that we’ve been putting in the yards in the pool every day since August – just training for this moment,” Benson said. “This is our final chance of the season to prove that all our hard work will pay off, and I have no doubt that this will be an amazing meet if we continue to do what we’ve been doing.”