The ISU swimming and diving team hits the road to continue Big 12 competition against Nebraska in Lincoln this weekend, in addition to a trip to Nebraska-Omaha – and for two team members, that means heading home.

Junior Britt Samuelson and freshman Chelsea Tomek are from Lincoln and Omaha, respectively – making this weekend against the Mavericks on Friday and the Huskers on Saturday more exciting for the two swimmers.

“I am very excited for this meet,” Samuelson said about facing the Huskers. “It’s going to be a lot like Iowa – there is a big team rivalry against Nebraska, we see them at all the Big 12 competitions, and it would be really nice to beat them face to face.”

Samuelson will face off against her best friend, Nebraska’s Jenna Stratford -who she went to high school and swam on a team with.

“We’re friendly, but we both want to beat each other and there is that competition – we both want to win,” Samuelson said.

Head coach Duane Sorenson understands the women’s excitement for the matchup.

“Britt is from Lincoln, so she grew up swimming at the [Devaney] Center, so it will be a homecoming for her with a lot of her friends and family. She has been pumped for this since the beginning of the year,” Sorenson said. “Chelsea swam very well at the Nebraska Invitational [earlier this season], and for her it’s at home again, and they competed at this facility for their state swim meet championships, so it will be exciting for her as well.”

The Cyclones competed against Nebraska and Nebraska-Omaha earlier this season at the Nebraska Invitational, falling short against the Huskers.

Nebraska placed first with 1303 points in the three-day event, as the Cyclones earned 897 points for a third place finish ahead of Nebraska-Omaha, which placed fourth.

“Overall, our women have learned how to race a lot better since the Nebraska Invite,” Sorenson said, “and against Nebraska-Omaha we’re going to have the chance to just race in different events and move around our lineup.”

A crucial difference from the last meeting in November is that the type of meet is different. This weekend, the Cyclones face Nebraska head-on in a dual meet as opposed to the invitational style that extends over a three-day period of racing with other teams.

“The Nebraska Invite and the dual meet take very different directions,” said Sorenson. “The invitational is more of a competition in which team has more depth – where Nebraska definitely does – but the dual meet is who takes first place in each race, and we match up very evenly with Nebraska, so it’s going to be a meet like it was last year. It’s going to come down to a touch out here, a second there.”

Samuelson agrees that the Cyclones can compete equally with both teams.

“Nebraska-Omaha will be a meet where we can focus on some non-dominant categories and we can kind of play around with the team lineup,” said Samuelson, “With Nebraska, we match them to a T. I know that if we treat this meet like the Iowa meet – with a lot of confidence and drive to win – we definitely have a chance to beat them. “