AMES — Iowa State opened its 2024 season Thursday with a 201-94 win over South Dakota State (SDSU). The Cyclones put on a clinic, besting the Jackrabbits in 12 of the 14 swimming events.
The dominant win was the team’s first under new head coach Matt Leach. Following the meet, he was proud of the effort, but believes there is more work to be done.
“Overall, I think it was a good first step for us,” Leach said. “We still have a lot of things to clean up. Overall, we had people step up and win events… With the work we put in, I’m excited.”
The meet began with a strong start for the Cyclones, with both their A and B relay teams finishing ahead of all three of the SDSU teams in the 200m medley.
Junior Corinne Guist was a standout in her races, winning the 1000m freestyle by nearly an entire length of the pool with a time of 10:30.11. She also had a dominant performance in the 500m freestyle, in which she posted a time of 5:07.44. Leach also highlighted the fact that she had the fastest split on the 400m freestyle relay, an event that the Cyclones won.
In the other events, freshman Grace Swoboda stepped up for the Cyclones, winning the 100m breaststroke in her first meet with a time of 1:06.19. Sophomore Abbi Crum picked up the win in the other breaststroke event, winning the 200m in dominant fashion, finishing in 2:25.50.
Fifth-year senior Winter Craig won a close matchup in the 200m fly.
Senior Carley Caughron swam a blazing hot 24.01, claiming victory in the 50m freestyle. She followed that up with a strong effort in the 100m fly to win the event.
Freshman Lili Neisser got her first collegiate win in the 200m backstroke, with a time of 2:05.73.
Junior Kate Mitchell had a promising start to the season with a win in the 1m dive, and fellow Cyclone, junior Ally Blumenfeld, got the win in the 3m.
SDSU’s highlight performer was sophomore Gigi Hioki, picking up the only two wins of the night for the Jackrabbits in the 200m freestyle and the 100m freestyle.
Leach stressed the importance of two values he wants to bring to the team: energy and family. On the energy side, he was proud of the way it was built, saying that it got better as the meet went on.
As for family, one could feel it in the atmosphere in Beyer Hall. It was most evident near the end of the meet when during the 200m individual medley, Iowa State swept the podium.
The triumph was made sweeter still by the Cyclone swimmers, not in the event, but as they started a “Cyclone Power” chant that reverberated through the building.
Iowa State will swim again at 6 p.m. Oct. 18 in Beyer Hall for a matchup against the South Dakota Coyotes.
