The combination of a good returning nucleus and the influx of 11 new freshmen has caused a lot of competition within the ISU swimming and diving team.

Swimming coach Duane Sorenson said the upperclassmen on the team are taking on the challenge from the newcomers.

“The faster [the freshmen] get, the more [the seniors] will get pushed in practice,” Sorenson said. “It’s a win-win situation.”

On the swimming side, the Cyclones return multiple top-15 finishers at the Big 12 Championships, including sophomore Abby Glaser, who earned All-Conference honors with her sixth-place finish in the 100-meter butterfly.

Glaser said the experience she gained last year will help her know what to expect when she gets to the big meets late in the season.

“I think it will help me with expectations and competitiveness,” Glaser said. “I think I’m just going to get up and race a lot faster this year.”

Sorenson said Glaser’s times are considerably faster than they were at this point last season.

“She ended the year on a very high note, being All-Big 12,” Sorenson said. “We do a lot of time comparison because the stopwatch doesn’t lie, and she is way ahead of where she was last year.

“She has a real good flavor for what is going on.”

Iowa State lost its other All-Conference performer from last year, Lauren Breunig, to graduation.

Sorenson said the job of replacing Breunig, who qualified for the NCAA Championships in three events last season, will fall to different swimmers in each event.

“First off Abby Glaser, in the 100 free[style] and 50 free, Frances Calzada did very well in the 100 free for us last year, and Jenni Vondenkamp,” Sorenson said. “It’s going to be a combination of those three, but it is so hard to replace a Lauren Breunig.”

Sophomore diver Tien Tran said, despite the losses of three seniors, this year’s team already has better camaraderie and has more fun.

“There is a lot more unity,” Tran said. “I think we’ve got a lot of new young talent, so we can do a little better than we did last year in dual meets and conference.”

The Cyclones also return junior Marni Benson, who has been a top-10 individual finisher and top-two relay finisher at the Big 12 Championships, and have two freshmen who won events at their intrasquad meet Friday.

This group is attempting to accomplish some very high goals they set for themselves, including giving conference opponents tough competition.

“We want to compete with the tougher teams like Missouri and Kansas and just become a stronger team overall,” Glaser said.

Iowa State has two veteran divers returning, including Tran, who qualified for the Zone Diving Championships in on all three different heights of diving boards last season.

Tran said her experiences at Zones, which is a regional tournament to see who advances to Nationals, will prepare her for this year, if she can make it back.

“Last year, I had my best meet at Zones, so hopefully I can do that again,” Tran said. “If I make it to NCAAs, that’s awesome, but we’ll see how it goes.”

Diving coach Jeff Warrick said he is shooting for Tran to make it to the NCAA Championships and nothing less.

“I think she definitely has the ability,” Warrick said. “It’s going to come down to a few days of competition.”

Junior Kali Fryklund and her 12 top-five finishes in her career will join Tran on the diving boards, along with two brand new freshmen.

Warrick said he is happy just to have four healthy divers on the team.

“When you have four healthy bodies, that does make a difference,” Warrick said. “We have some different expectations for Tien and Kali; they have experience, so we are looking for them to really let it show in the early season.”