The Iowa State men’s swimming team remained undefeated in dual meets this season after a pair of convincing weekend wins.

ISU, ranked 24th nationally, dominated both matches, winning 144-99 on Friday and 139-84 on Saturday. The Cyclones toppled Wisconsin-Green Bay on Friday and North Dakota on Saturday.

“I continue to be real pleased with the competitiveness of our team,” ISU Coach Trip Hedrick said. He said his team continues to stand up and meet the challenges presented to them.

The team knew heading into the meets that the overall scores would not be too competitive but achieved its goals of swimming fast on back-to-back days.

The consecutive-day meets will be good experience for readying the squad for the Big 12 Meet, Hedrick said.

On Friday, the ISU men started strong by capturing the top three places in the first event, the 200 medley relay. The men also swept the 50 and 200 freestyles in the first half of the meet.

The 50 freestyle saw Bob Bredice, Jeff Gahan and Martin Andersson with strong performances.

After the early Cyclone showing, ISU swam several exhibition races to keep the score from getting too out of hand.

Overall, ISU’s depth was the key to the large scoreboard advantage, not allowing UWGB to score points easily.

One individual star for the Cyclones was Lovre Franicevic, who left his competitors in the 1000 freestyle well behind. He also had the second fastest time behind teammate Mitch McGinty in the 100 free.

Tim Hansen won the 100 breastroke in 58.16, cutting more than one second off his career-best 100 breaststroke time.

Hedrick commended Hansen’s efforts. “He had a huge breakthrough weekend,” he said.

Hansen attributed his improvement to his hard work in the rigorous training program this season.

Hansen said he was surprised to see his time on the board and questioned whether it was real.

“I don’t know where it came from,” he said.

He said the fast swim will boost his confidence and also his rankings in the conference. “It’s huge,” he said. “It just does so much.”

On Saturday, ISU placed first in all 13 events en route to the rout.

Once again, the Cyclone team was sportsmanlike by not accepting all of the points in the contest to avoid a blowout.

Peder Skoog was the individual winner of the 200 backstroke and also swam on the winning 400 medley and 400 freestyle relays.

Hedrick was pleased with the weekend swims of Jim Sheehan in the 200 breastsroke and Brian Rogers in the 100 backstroke.

ISU divers also performed well over the weekend, with Jim Zagaria qualifying for the NCAA Zone Qualifying Meet in the one-meter with a score of 309.525. Teammate Steve Mohabir will also participate in the meet after recording a 340.5 in the three-meter competition.

The 7-0 dual start is the best start for a Hedrick squad at ISU.

“We’re developing very good habits for what we’re trying to accomplish,” Hedrick said.

Hansen said the team is competing very well this season and thinks an undefeated dual meet record is possible.

“This is the best team I’ve swam for,” the senior said. “I think we have a really good chance.”

The Cyclones have only three dual meets left on the schedule, including the one at Northern Illinois this weekend.

The Cyclones then return home to the Beyer Hall pool to face Northern Iowa and Kansas on Feb. 6 and 7.

The home contest with the Jayhawks is expected to be a marquee match-up that will draw a large crowd.

Hansen said with Cyclone faithful on hand, a win will result.

“There’s no way anyone can beat us in our home pool,” he said.