Despite forging a second half rally, the Iowa State women’s swimming team was unable to overcome a slow start in falling to the Northern Illinois Huskies 130-113 at Dekalb, Ill., on Saturday.

“The first half of the meet we didn’t swim well and we needed to do that to win,” ISU Coach Duane Sorenson said.

The first race was instrumental in the Cyclones’ early difficulties, as they failed to win the crucial 400 medley relay.

“We need to win the 400 medley relay and just didn’t get the job done,” Sorenson said. “It gave them momentum and took it away from us.”

First place finishes by A-Lisa Miles, Angela Arias, Kelly Lorenz,and Kim Reid propelled the Cyclones back into the race, as they cut a 30-point deficit to eight before the Huskies pulled away.

“We swam really strong in the second half, but it was too little, too late,” Sorenson said.

Arias won the 100 freestyle with a personal-best time of 53.87.

It was the third consecutive meet Arias has achieved a personal-best mark in the event.

“I’m finally accomplishing the goals I’ve set,”she said.

The ISU diving team also made strong contributions to the overall Cyclone effort.

Erin Cowan paced the Cyclones by winning the three-meter dive and placing third in the one-meter competition.

“I didn’t dive as well as I wanted to on the one-meter, but pulled it together and was more consistent on the three-meter,” Cowan said.

Cowan also attributed the diving team’s success to a solid performance by Aleisha Kraft, who placed second in both events.

In assessing the meet, Sorenson stated that the Cyclones need to “learn how to swim better on the road.”

He also said the cardinal and gold swimmers must “step up and beat teams they can beat.”

Arias added, “We didn’t do as good as we wanted to, but we learned a lesson and we’ll do better next time.”

The loss dropped the Cyclones’ record to 3-6 on the season as they return home next weekend to face UNI on Friday at 4 p.m. and Kansas on Saturday at 1:30.

Commenting on the upcoming meets, Sorenson said, “UNI will be a good meet for us because we’re a little better than they are, but Kansas is a little stronger than us.”

The Cyclones hope to improve in the upcoming meets in preparation for the Big 12 Championships on Feb. 19-21 in Austin, Texas.