Iowa State placed eighth in the Hawkeye Invitational in Iowa City this weekend. The Cyclones were in last place after Thursday but were able to catch the Northern Iowa Panthers on Friday before extending the gap on Saturday to avoid a last-place finish.
The Nebraska Cornhuskers, a team that bested Iowa State in the Cyclones’ last outing, won the meet. The podium was rounded out with San Diego State in second and Arkansas in third.
Platform diving was a highlight for the Cyclones, with all five divers making the finals. Juniors Ally Blumenfeld and Kate Mitchell made a splash, finishing 12th and 13th in the event respectively.
In their next meet, the Cyclones will face a Hawkeye team that finished fifth in the event. The highlight for Iowa came Friday in the 400m individual medley when sophomore Olivia Swalley set a school record for the Hawkeyes at 4:10:54.
Overall, the Hawkeyes were able to hang around the middle of the pack for most of the meet. The Cyclones will return to Iowa City on Dec. 13 for the annual Cy-Hawk meet against the Hawkeyes.
UNI and Kansas were the other teams at the invitational that will duel with the Cyclones later this season and both put on a performance that should give Iowa State confidence that they will certainly have a chance to beat them when they meet.
UNI was the last-place finisher in the meet and the Jayhawks finished sixth. While they placed behind the Jayhawks at the invitational, the Cyclones certainly were not out of the question to catch Kansas. The duel should be a great battle in February.
