It’s always hard to end the regular season with a loss, but the ISU swimming and diving team hopes to be well-prepared for the greener pastures that lie ahead.

Kansas (8-2, 3-0 Big 12) began the meet strong on Friday, winning the first five events. Kansas also finished the meet tough, taking six of the last seven events on Saturday, when Iowa State honored eight seniors. The Cyclones (5-4, 0-3) won the last three events on Friday and the first one on Saturday, but could not overcome the Jayhawks, losing 183-114.

Swimming coach Duane Sorenson said Iowa State is on the right track for the Big 12 Championships in two weeks despite the loss.

“I think that we are right where we want to be,” Sorenson said Saturday.

“This meet also taught us some valuable lessons about swimming at 10 in the morning and having few more people a little better prepared.”

Senior Kim Rogers said she thinks the Cyclones will be ready.

“We have spent the last two days mentally preparing and getting ready to swim in two weeks,” Rogers said. “We’ll be ready.”

The Cyclones were competitive in most of the events. On Friday, along with the three victories Iowa State earned, it was barely out-touched in the three other races. Marni Benson finished second in the 50 breaststroke (29.98) by only one-hundredth of a second.

“We told Marni that she can’t cut her fingernails for tomorrow,” Sorenson said.

Four of the five Iowa State victories were earned by two swimmers. Lauren Breunig won the 100 individual medley in a time of 59.56 in the final event on Friday.

Breunig then won the first event on Saturday, the 50 freestyle, with a time of 24.67.

“I was happy with the way I swam since we are starting to taper down for conference,” Breunig said.

“Normally your body gets really tired now, but I was very happy with how I swam.”

Breunig helped the Cyclones to two second-place finishes, one in the 150 freestyle (1:22.09) and one as a part of the 200 freestyle relay (1:38.73). Cassandra Nelson, Lindsay Wegner and Maggie Peterson also swam on that relay.

Rogers was the other two-event winner for the Cyclones, touching the wall first in the 150 butterfly with a time of 1:31.52 and winning the 200 individual medley in a time of 2:08.35. Rogers also placed second in the 150 backstroke (1:31.65).

The other Cyclone win came from Haley Haynes in the one-meter diving competition with a total score of 283.80. Haynes also placed second in the three-meter diving competition with a score of 271.88, which was only bested by less than four points as Kansas’s Shelby Noonan passed Haynes on her final dive. Kali Fryklund, in her first meet back from an injury since Jan. 20, placed third in the three-meter.

In the 200 individual medley, Iowa State went 1-2-3 with Lindsay Wiesner placing second (2:17.95) and Shannon Parker placing third (2:22.71). The team of Peterson, Benson, Wegner and Nelson placed second in the 200 medley relay in a time of 1:47.41.

The next time the Cyclones will be in competition is for the Big 12 Championships February 22 to 25 in Columbia, Mo. The NCAA Championships follow in March.