Iowa State swimming and diving kicked off the 2024-25 season with the Cardinal and Gold meet, an intrasquad scrimmage Friday night. The excitement was palpable in Beyer Hall as the Cyclones dueled against each other.
The Cardinal team would come out on top in a close battle, setting the tone for what should be a competitive season for the team.
The meet was head coach Matt Leach’s first event at the helm of the Iowa State coaching staff, as he recently is coming off of a successful tenure as head coach at Washington State.
Senior Carley Caughron set herself apart in the sprint freestyle events, picking up two big wins for the Cardinal squad in both the 50m and the 100m. Caughron is coming off a 14th-place finish in the 100m freestyle event at the Big 12 Championships last year and will look to continue moving up in the Big 12 this season.
Junior Corinne Guist would take the first win of the night in the individual events, picking up the win in the 200m freestyle. Guist went on to sweep in the individual freestyle events for Cardinal with a win in the 500m free, the longest event of the night.
Freshman Lili Neisser was the standout for Gold, winning both the 100m and 200m backstroke events.
The 100m fly brought the closest finish of the night with sophomore Kayla Bulseco of the Cardinal team beating a hard-charging senior Fallon DeWitt to the line in an extremely tight finish.
The swimming portion of the event was wrapped up with a win for Gold, despite a comeback attempt by Cardinal that fell just short.
Junior Kate Mitchell would put on a clinic in both diving events, winning in both the 3m and 1m for Gold. Mitchell was a strong contender for the Cyclones last year, finishing 20th in the Big 12 in the 3m.
The atmosphere was that of friendly competition on Friday, and the meet ended with the fans starting a cheer that was joined in by the swimmers. It was a wholesome cap on a fun, competitive opener for the Cyclones.
Iowa State now moves on to its first duel against South Dakota State at 4:30 p.m. Thursday in Beyer Hall.
