As the days grow shorter and colder, the ISU swimming and diving team still hits the pool daily to prepare for its upcoming meets.

The Cyclones face Northern Iowa at 1 p.m. Saturday in Cedar Falls.

Last year, the Cyclones came out on top of the Panthers, 135-65.

Northern Iowa is the fourth event this fall for the Cyclones, who started the season off with the Big 12 Relays in Columbia, Mo., and have competed at South Dakota State and in the Minnesota Invitational.

The Cyclones placed seventh out of 10 teams at the Minnesota Invitational, held Nov. 18 to 20. Swimming coach Duane Sorenson said he was not pleased with their overall placing, but was pleased with the team’s effort.

“All six teams were rested and tapered, and we were not,” Sorenson said.

Junior Lauren Breunig is an outstanding swimmer to keep an eye out for, he said. At Minnesota, Breunig earned her fastest times in the 100-meter freestyle and the 200-meter freestyle.

The basic concept behind swimming is to train a tremendous amount for a key performance, Sorenson said. In this case, the women’s hard work and training is put toward the Big 12 Championships in February.

The upcoming meets are a good means of practice and experience for the Cyclones, he said.

“We don’t always go for the fastest time,” he said.

The swimmers and divers are in the water for approximately 18 hours a week to prepare for their upcoming meets, including the Big 12 Championships.

“This weekend, I am just looking for a good performance and good effort,” he said.

Senior Maggie Peterson said she is looking forward to this upcoming weekend against Northern Iowa.

“We have been training hard this week and working on the little things,” Peterson said.

Peterson said the team has been practicing very hard in and out of the pool.

After its two weeks of training before finals, the team will train hard during Winter Break to get ready for the Big 12 conference meet.

“Our team is known to perform really well at conference,” Peterson said. “We are hoping to break some school records at conference this year in both individual events and relays as well as send some girls to the NCAAs.”

Two of the three divers will compete at Northern Iowa this Saturday. Senior Hillary Nichols is recovering from an injury and hopes to be healthy by conference time.

Just like last year, Northern Iowa doesn’t have any divers on its team. The two ISU divers, however, will dive for practice, said diving coach Jeff Warrick.

“Our fall competition has laid the groundwork for making our fundamentals sound and also gives our divers foundation to build off of for more complex dives when we actually compete,” Warrick said.

The team will continue to work hard and stay prepared for their last meet of the fall against rival Iowa.

The women will then train intensely during Winter Break to get ready for the Big 12 Championships on Feb. 22 to 25 in Columbia, Mo.