The ISU swimming and diving team had a lot of fun over the weekend in the state of Nebraska.

On Friday, the Cyclones earned their first win over Nebraska in 20 years and in the process upped their dual meet record to 4-2. Iowa State dominated the Huskers, outscoring them 150-83.

The team followed that on Saturday by defeating the University of Nebraska-Omaha and Northern Colorado. By racking up 154 points, the Cyclones were able to overpower UNO which scored 92 and Northern Colorado which notched 49.

ISU head coach Duane Sorenson said he liked what he saw in both meets.

“I thought we swam really well against Nebraska. They are down this year with a new coaching staff and a lot of their team transferred,” Sorenson said. “A win is a win.”

On Saturday after getting off to a slow start and only leading UNO 76-73 at the halfway mark, the team picked it up.

“Nine o’clock was an early start for us, and we weren’t quite awake,” Sorenson said.

One of the high points of the weekend was the 1,000 freestyle against Nebraska where Kristen Vanek barely edged teammate Carmella Nogar for the win.

Their times of 10:25.15 and 10:25.37 were both personal bests. Besides racing each other in the 1,000 these two juniors are roomates and best friends.

“It was close the whole way, she just had a better finish than I did,” Nogar said. “There is a small rivalry there. You want to have the bragging rights on your side, but no one gets upset. It is great for the both of us to push each other.”

Vanek said she was happy with the race for a number of reasons.

“The 1,000 is a long race, and sometimes you have a tendency to pace yourself off the speed of others. I saw Carmella the whole way and we fed off of each other to go faster,” Vanek said. “It was fun. This time of year you always want to be winning and this weekend gave us a lot of confidence.”

Another highlight was the 200 freestyle relay of freshman Brita Benson, senior Jodel Fesenmaier, junior Rena Kelinson and senior Becca Meyer. The four produced a season’s best time of 136.79.

“We put the four fastest in there because we were looking to set ourselves up for the Big 12 meet,” Sorenson said. “Their time is right there with all the other teams in the Big 12.”

Linda Wagner also had a productive weekend on the board. She finished second in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events on Friday, but came back Saturday to win both events.

“I learned something from that meet against Missouri,” said Wagner, speaking of the Jan. 26 meet at home. “I need to focus more and have a better technique. I also need to focus more on having fun rather than placing.”

The swimming and diving team returns home for their regular season finale against Kansas 1 p.m. Saturday at the Beyer Hall Pool. The meet is Iowa State’s last tune-up before the Big 12 Championships Feb. 21-23 in College Station, Texas.

“Kansas will be a d‚j… vu of our meet with Missouri. We match up well with them,” Sorenson said. “I expect a tremendous amount of close races. The team that wants it more will win.”