In order to claim victory this weekend, the ISU women’s swimming and diving team must work through a lot of pain. The Cyclones have lost two competitors on the swimming side, as well as two of their divers.

Iowa State faces off against St. Olaf on Friday, followed by a Saturday meet against Nebraska-Omaha.

The Cyclones had few problems with the Oles last season, but this year injuries threaten to turn the tide.

Shorthanded Iowa State has multiple swimmers unable to compete. Junior swimmer Michelle Collins is out for both meets with nerve problems in her arm, while junior Jamie Wieben is out for the entire month of January rehabbing her back.

Swimming coach Duane Sorenson, however, is optimistic about the return of Wieben.

“We’re hoping to have her back at the end of the month, but there’s no guarantee,” Sorenson said.

Diving head coach Jeff Warrick will most likely only have senior Katie Herman healthy enough to compete.

Hillary Nichols is listed as doubtful for both meets with a back injury, while Gail Olson has a slight possibility of being able to dive Saturday. She is recovering from a case of chicken pox.

“I think the upcoming meets this weekend will be good for us,” Warrick said. “It’ll be good to get back to competing. I just hope our luck with injuries will turn for the better.”

Warrick said the divers traveled to San Antonio for training during break. He said the trip was successful and worthwhile.

“I think it was one of our best training trips that we’ve ever had,” Warrick said.

Several states away, the swimmers were enjoying sunny Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

“The women really put forth a tremendous effort into each practice session,” Sorenson said. “We did a little bit of everything, training, sprinting, high quality sets. Basically, we worked on everything we needed to.”

Iowa State was on the road for their meet against St. Olaf last season, and left Northfield, Minn., with a 178-77 victory.

“We’ve competed against St. Olaf every year that I’ve been here,” Warrick said. “I think they have five divers, but I really don’t know anything about them.”

Sorenson said the Oles have a number of really good swimmers, including sprinter Katie Brentz, and is planning on using the same strategy against them that he used against Northern Iowa in the Cyclones’ last meet.

“We’re going to try and match up our swimmers with their swimmers,” Sorenson said. “When we changed the lineup around against UNI we had some really nice surprises, so I’m hoping we get some more.”

Nebraska-Omaha is another familiar foe for Iowa State. The Cyclones have competed against the Mavericks for the past few years, including a 169-91 win last season in Omaha.

“[Nebraska-Omaha] has a couple good swimmers that we’re going to be hard-pressed to beat,” Sorenson said. “Their times are much better than ours in the breast strokes.

“We’re going to have to swim a very strong lineup against them. Everyone needs to have a strong meet.”

Friday’s meet starts at 5 p.m., and Saturday’s begins at 1 p.m. Both meets are in Beyer Pool.