The ISU men’s swimming and diving team started the season well, finishing third at the Big 12 Relays Friday in Lawrence, Kan.

Iowa State’s 67 points were good enough to edge out fourth place Missouri and fifth place Kansas.

The University of Texas won the Big 12 Relays with 117 points and won 13 of the 19 events. Texas A&M finished second.

The meet was designed for teams to get an early look at the Big 12 Conference.

“The meet is fun for the athletes and a good chance to get together and see how the teams look,” said Head Coach Trip Hedrick. “I think we got a good realization of the rest of the conference.”

Hedrick cited the Cyclones’ stamina in the meet as being a strength.

“I thought we were very solid and swam a high number of events,” Hedrick said. “We did not fall off badly throughout the meet.”

The Cyclones placed no higher than third, but the team did show success by placing third in 11 of 19 events in the meet.

One of those third place finishes came in the 300-yard breaststroke relay. The relay team consisting of junior Brett Lohmeier and sophomores Mike Christianson and Danny Binkowski posted a time of 2:59.64.

In the 300-yard backstroke relay, Iowa State’s team of senior and team captain Peder Skoog, junior Liam Short and sophomore Karl Sunrydh finished with a time 2:32.24.

The Cyclones also garnered third place in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

Skoog, Short, junior Dylan de Bruin and freshman Jono Newton ended with a time of 3:05.61.

In the 200-yard medley relay Skoog, senior Jeremy Wilson, de Bruin and Christianson made the team that swam to a time of 1:33.12.

Iowa State’s 200-yard freestyle relay team posted a time of 1:23.26. Skoog, de Bruin, junior Billy Reese and Newton took part in the event for the Cyclones.

Iowa State also earned third in the 4X100 individual medley.

The relay team consisted of Wilson, Lohmeier, Short, and freshman Mike Rigali. The team’s time was 3:36.12.

Skoog, Wilson and senior Henrik Ingesson posted a time of 1:08.08 in the 150-yard butterfly relay.

In the 150-yard breaststroke relay Lohmeier, Christianson and Rigali posted a time of 1:21.13 and earned third place.

Skoog, Sunrydh and Newton paced the Cyclones in the 150-yard backstroke relay. The relay team finished with a time of 1:10.24.

The Cyclones also got a third place swim in the 100-yard freestyle relay. Lohmeier, de Bruin, Reese, and Newton finished with a time of 39.16 seconds.

The diving team also got a third place finish in the one-meter power final sophomore David Likar and freshman Mitch Fluegel. The diving team also finished fifth in two other events.

Hedrick mentioned a number of swimmers for their performance in the meet.

“Peder Skoog again had an outstanding meet, picking up after his intrasquad meet,” Hedrick said. “Liam Short had a good day also. He swam a good 200 IM at the end of the day. Jeremy Wilson just had an outstanding day. Brett Lohmeier was just a workhorse. He had very solid performances throughout the meet.”

Hedrick did mention an improvement the team needs to make.

“We need some distance guys to step up and help Josh Nogar in the distance events,” Hedrick said.

Another improvement he would like to see is one that is beyond the team’s control.

“We need to get healed up,” Hedrick said. “We’ve got some nagging injuries that have crept up in the early part of this season.”

The next meet for Iowa State is the team’s first home meet of the year against Wisconsin at 11a.m. Saturday at the Beyer Hall pool. Wisconsin is ranked 21st nationally, and Hedrick said the Badgers are tough.

“They have a small team in numbers but not lacking in quality,” Hedrick said. “They’ve got every event covered extremely well. We will need outstanding performances top to bottom to put ourselves in a favorable position.”

Hedrick is encouraging the fans to come out and help support the team in an important home meet.

“We generally swim well at home because of some very enthusiastic fans,” Hedrick said.