The ISU swimming and diving team’s hard work and daily practices showed in its victory over Northern Iowa, as the Cyclones, who defeated the Panthers 135-65 last season, came out on top again, 162-20.

Iowa State placed first in six out of nine events. Cyclone swimmers took first in the 200 medley relay, 1000 freestyle, 200 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and the 200 butterfly.

Swim coach Duane Sorenson said he was pleased with the Cyclones’ performance against the Panthers, as many of the swimmers competed in different events and still came out on top.

Senior Tami Ritchie won the 1000 freestyle with a time of 10:39.82.

“The key to doing well in a race is working on all the little things in practice,” Ritchie said. “When you get to the meet there is no time to think about what your doing, you just do it correctly.”

Another solid performance came from junior Chelsey Walden, who finished first in the 200 free with a time of 1:57.70. Walden usually competes in long distance races, but competed a shorter distance in the meet against the Panthers.

“For me, swimming the 200 free gave me a mental break to focus on racing,” Walden said. “When we face Iowa next weekend, I can take that racing experience and couple them together for a different approach when I race the 1,000 yard.”

Sorenson said Walden’s practice mentality has already taken her to great places.

“Walden has been working really hard in practice and it has been paying off during her performances,” he said.

Although Northern Iowa didn’t have a diving team, sophomore Kali Fryklund and Haley Haynes competed solo to get practice in for the competition against Iowa.

“The divers can still evaluate how they did based on their point totals from previous meets,” said diving coach Jeff Warrick.

Fryklund had her personal best score in the one-meter diving competition with a total of 219.08 points. Haynes grabbed first on the three-meter board with 263.48 points.

These two divers will have tough competition against Iowa this weekend.

“We are going to shoot for our personal bests and hopefully do well against Iowa divers during the process,” Warrick said.

The swimming and diving team said they are putting all of their effort into February’s conference meet instead of spending all of their energy at one meet.

“It is kind of a gamble we have decided to take, but we don’t want to lose our focus for the rest of the year,” Sorenson said.

The women hold an advantage by being at home on Friday when they compete against Iowa at 7 p.m. in Beyer Hall.

“Iowa is a very strong team and we’re going to have to have our best performance of the year to beat them,” Sorenson said.