It’s much easier to prepare for a season when the previous season ended on so many positives.

That is the case for the ISU swimming and diving team. The Cyclones broke several school records and had many stellar performances, including a couple of all-conference swims, at the Big 12 Championships.

Iowa State, which went 5-4 in dual meets and finished sixth in the Big 12 Championships last season, will face a similar schedule to its 2005-06 slate. Some of the key meets of the season are: a Dec. 8 date with rival Iowa in Iowa City, a Jan. 20 meeting at the Beyer Hall Pool with Nebraska and then in February, the season-ending Big 12 Championships in College Station, Texas.

Unlike last year, the season started early this year. ISU diving coach Jeff Warrick said the earlier beginning to the season is not a big deal.

“We just started a week earlier to account for it,” Warrick said. “They’re still going to get the same amount of training time.”

ISU swimming coach Duane Sorenson said the expectations for the team are for each individual on the team to swim her personal best and to be as competitive in the dual meets as the team can.

“I think that we’re going to be very strong in most of our early dual meets in October and November,” Sorenson said. “At the end of the year we would like to be in the top four in the conference championships this season.”

Senior Lauren Breunig said with the team down in numbers this year, everyone has to step up.

“I am looking forward to seeing what we can do as a team,” she said. “We lost a lot of good swimmers last year, so we really need to step it up and work hard this season.”

Sophomore diver Haley Haynes qualified for the Zone D Diving Qualifications as a freshman and nearly qualified for nationals, and Breunig qualified for the NCAA Championships.

Haynes said she hopes to qualify for zones again and to reach the finals in all three diving events: the 1-meter springboard, the 3-meter springboard and the platform.

“I want to qualify for zones again and final on both boards or all three levels hopefully,” Haynes said. “My goals are basically the same as last year except for qualifying on all three levels instead of two.”

Breunig said she would like to qualify for nationals again and place higher there.

“First, I would like to place in the top three at Big 12s,” Breunig said. “Then I would like to make it back to NCAAs and place better there.”

Warrick said he has high expectations and is looking for Haynes and redshirt sophomore Kali Fryklund to lead the divers.

“I am just looking for a good year,” Warrick said. “It’s early right now, so we’ll see after the first few meets how they do.”

Fryklund said she just wants to come in and compete.

“I am just looking forward to competing and making a name for myself again,” Fryklund said. “Last year as a redshirt freshman I was just kind of new to the whole diving thing.”

Fryklund, however, had surgery at the end of the summer and has yet to be cleared for full diving, Warrick said.

Fryklund is one of the three captains this year with Breunig and senior Chelsey Walden.

The ISU swimming and diving team opens the season with an intrasquad scrimmage at 6 p.m. Friday at Beyer Hall Pool. After that, the Cyclones will travel to Lincoln, Neb., for the Big 12 Relays on Oct. 13.