In their final home meet of 2022, the Iowa State Swim and Dive Team defeated South Dakota 191-102. 

It was an expected win but still a promising sign for the Cyclones to perform so well. Their Cardinal and Gold Exhibition meet was canceled to start the season and the team lost a close match to a good Nebraska team. After beating both South Dakota State and South Dakota by wide margins, the team is now 2-1 on the season. 

The team benefitted from a strong performance from its long-distance swimmers. In both the 1,000 free and the 500 free, they secured the top three spots. Brinley Horras came in first in both events by a wide margin. 

While not her fastest times of the year, Coach Duane Sorensen said he was impressed with her performance.

Horras swam 10:22.67 in the 1,000 free, finishing 30 seconds ahead of the first South Dakota swimmer. She swam 5:02.95 in the 500 free. Including her 400 freestyle relay team that took first, Horras scored a total of 29 points for the Cyclones.

Going into the meet, Sorensen said the team needed to work on the little details like turns and technique.

“We’re getting a lot better at that. A lot of kids were conscientious and aware of what they were doing,” Sorensen said. “They came and told me ‘okay I got to work on this and this.’”

He mentioned Carly Caughron as someone who he thought had improved a lot. Caughron swam 0.18 seconds off of her lifetime best in the 100 free.

Diving Coach Jeff Warrick said the divers’ hard work has paid off so far and they performed well against South Dakota. Jocelyn Buss took first in the 3-meter dive with a score of 283.55 and Jayna Misra took first in the 1-meter dive with a score of 288.05.

The next meet for the divers will be the Missouri invitational on Nov. 16, and the swimmers will compete in the Kansas Classic on Nov. 18. Both teams will start facing higher competition and will get a chance to see how they measure up.

Warrick said the divers have been working on being consistent with their entries and he wants to see how the team will perform in Missouri.

“I think that’s what we’re trying to practice on is no matter what team we’re facing, staying in our routine and performing the way we know we can,” Warrick said. “Hopefully, it’s just gonna bring their diving up as well.”

Sorensen said he’s been keeping track of the scores for teams the Cyclones will face this year.

“I think we’re in a really good position right now,” Sorensen said. “Keeping track of the teams in the Kansas Classic, looking at what Iowa and TCU have been doing, I think we’re in a good spot.”