The 1998-99 Iowa State women’s swimming and diving team is blending together a strong core of seasoned veterans with talented newcomers as it looks to build off of last season’s progress and improve in the Big Twelve standings.

“I’m very excited about this year,” head coach Duane Sorenson said. “I’m not a rookie at the university anymore; I have my feet on the ground.”

Kim Reid, the only Cyclone swimmer to qualify for the NCAAs last year, added, “I’m really excited. We’ve got a really good class coming in, and we should do better than last year.”

Sorenson, in his second year at ISU, guided the Cyclones to a 4-7 record last season, including an 0-3 conference mark.

“We finished sixth at the Big 12 meet last year, and we’re looking to improve,” he said. “Our main goal is to get more swimmers in the finals and improve our point total from last season.”

A big reason the Cyclones have high hopes for improving this year is the addition of seven highly- touted freshmen to the scene.

“We’re really excited about our freshmen coming in, and with their enthusiasm and athletic talent, we’re going to be a lot better than we were last year,” Sorenson said. “Their addition will increase our team depth tremendously and fill holes in areas we were weak in last year,” he said.

“Our distance free is going to be much stronger, and we have some good sprinters, so it will help our sprint freestyle races and add tremendous depth to our relays,” Sorenson added.

The freshman list includes: Nicole Eilers, Erin Endres, Jodel Fesenmaier, Amber McDowell, Rebecca Meyer, Kelly Schwantz and Erica Vohnout.

McDowell, a state champ in the 100 butterfly and runner up in the 200 free from Bettendorf, IA, said she enjoys ISU has high expectations for the season.

“I’m expecting to do really well with his (Sorenson’s) coaching and the talent around me,” McDowell said.

The Cyclones also return a wealth of talent and experience from last season.

“We have tremendous senior leadership this year in our four captions,” Sorenson said. “They’re doing a great job in making the team a family atmosphere.”

The four captains are Erin Cowan, Brooke Larsen, Aleisha Kraft and Lindsay Tempel.

Cowan and Kraft are ISU’s top returning divers and will have increased leadership duties this season as the diving squad adjusts to the retirement of long time diving coach Jerry Symons and the arrival of first year coach Jeff Warrick.

“All of the divers are excited to have Jeff leading the way,” Sorenson said.

Warrick, who previously coached the diving team at Davenport West and the Bettendorf Diving Club, said, “It’s going to be challenging, and I have some big shoes to fill. I don’t think I could ever replace him (Symons), but I’ll bring my own personality to the team.”

Warrick added, “I’m just getting to know the divers, but I know there’s a lot of talent out there as well as a lot of success, and hopefully we can keep that going as well as improve on it.”

Cowan said this is the “most excited I’ve ever been” about an upcoming season because it is “something new, different and exciting.”

“I’m so excited about having coach Warrick here — I think it’ll be a good change for us,” she said.

Cowan participated at the NCAA diving championships two years ago and said her personal goals for this season were to “place at the Big 12 meet” and “do really well at the NCAA zone qualifying meet.”

Sorenson noted that there are several returning Cyclone swimmers with high expectations as well.

“Kim Reid is the returning Big 12 champ in the 100 breaststroke, and we’re looking for her to repeat and build off of what she did last year,” he said.

Reid placed 35th at the NCAAs last year and said her goal is to do better this year.

“I want to win conference again and get a better time in my 200 breaststroke,” she said. “I also want to be able to make the automatic qualifying time for the NCAAs and improve on last year’s performance and make NCAA finals.”

A-Lisa Miles, whom Sorenson calls the team’s “all-around swimmer,” said she would like to make an NCAA appearance as well, although her main goal is “to have fun.”

“I would like to make NCAAs, but my main goals are just to improve and have a lot of fun,” she said.

Temple and backstroker Kelly Lorenz are two other swimmers Sorenson said will fill a vital role in the team’s success.

“Temple is a very important part of our team in the sprint freestyle, and she has always been a strong relay swimmer,” Sorenson said.

“Lorenz was a finalist at the Big Twelve meet in the 100 backstroke and set the school record in the 200 backstroke,” he said. “We’re looking for her to do a repeat performance of that this year.”

Sorenson said that the only area of concern he has for the squad is depth in the backstroke area, which he says “is thin after Lorenz.”

Another big part in determining this season’s success for the Cyclones will be the increased intensity Sorenson said he plans to include during practices.

“Our practice intensity will improve quite a bit,” Sorenson said. “Last year’s team took a while to adjust to my style, but once they adjusted they did really well and started to improve greatly. Almost everyone had lifetime bests at the end of the season.

“With the training and incoming freshmen there will be a lot more racing in practice,” Sorenson added, “and the intensity level will increase.”

Commenting on the this year’s slate of opponents, Sorenson said “no one meet will be more important than another,” and that the Cyclones’ will mainly focus on improving their best times to prepare for the Big 12 meet in February.

“In November we’ll be competing at the Minnesota Invitational against some of the top teams in the nation,” Sorenson said. “We’ll also see some top competition at the Big Twelve Invitational in October.”

He added, “Each meet is important, but our main goal is to get more swimmers in the (Big Twelve) finals and improve our point total from last season.”

The Cyclones will start splashing away on October 23-24 at the Big Twelve Relays and Invitational.