The Iowa State swim and dive team begins its season at 6 p.m. Friday with a tune-up scrimmage meet before beginning competition the following week against South Dakota State. 

Matt Leach will be taking the helm of the program as head coach after longtime coach, Duane Sorenson, retired at the end of last season. Leach comes off of a six-year tenure as head coach at Washington State, where he coached several NCAA Championship qualifiers, including Emily Lundgren in the 200m individual medley event last season. 

The Cyclones look to rebound from a 3-6 season, which saw them finish in eighth place at the Big 12 Championships in Irving, Texas. Iowa State rebounded from a loss in its opener with wins against South Dakota and South Dakota State, both of whom will clash with the Cyclones early in the season again. Other notable moments in the season include a 121-179 loss in the Cy-Hawk series to Iowa and losses to Big 12 rivals, TCU, BYU and Kansas. 

After kicking off with the Cardinal and Gold meet, Iowa State will host rematches against South Dakota State and South Dakota on Oct. 10 and Oct. 18, respectively. 

The Cyclones will then travel to Lincoln, Nebraska on Oct. 25, where they will face a Nebraska team that handed them their first loss of the season last year.

Next up will be back-to-back trips to Iowa City, Iowa. First, Iowa State will compete in the Hawkeye Invite the weekend of Nov. 21-23, and then Dec. 13, they will face the Hawkeyes again in this year’s Cy-Hawk matchup. 

To kick off 2025, the team will return to Ames to face off against Northern Iowa, a team that fell in a duel to the Cyclones last year in Iowa State’s most dominant showing. On Jan. 17, TCU will play host to the Cyclones Big 12 kickoff, and Iowa State will stay in the Lone Star State for a duel against North Texas the next day.

The Cyclones wrap up the regular season in Lawrence, Kansas, for a showdown against Kansas on Feb. 7 before the postseason begins with the Big 12 Championships in late February.