After one night of a two-night rematch, Kansas sits ahead of Iowa State 95-55. 

Eight events are complete from Beyer Pool and eight will continue Saturday morning. The Cyclones suffered multiple narrow defeats by the standout swimmers and divers of Kansas. 

“I was really pleased with our effort,” head coach Duane Sorenson said. 

“We just needed to work on our finishes more. […] It’s just a matter of just a couple tenths of a second and the meet is almost tied,” Sorenson said.

Iowa State’s stellar 200-yard medley relay team was narrowly defeated to start the two-day dual. Emily Haan, Martha Hass, Carley Caughron and Maddie Ziegert were behind the quartet from Kansas by just .03 seconds. Kansas junior Kayla Brown overtook the Cyclone team on the race’s final leg. 

The Cyclones were down 13-4 after the first event. 

Cyclone senior Emily Haan took second in the 100-yard backstroke in an incredible competitive race. Freshman Ellie Howe of Kansas bested Haan by just .25 seconds. Haan touched for a time of 56.50. 

In the 200-yard butterfly, Kansas junior Amelie Lessing battled from behind to catch Iowa State’s Lucia Rizzo and take a share of the event title. The swimmers touched for an identical time of 2:04.05. Again, the Cyclones were out touched in the final strokes of a race.

The 200-fly brought the event to a dive break with the Jayhawks ahead 69-43. 

The 200-fly, 100-back and 200-medley were fiercely competitive Friday evening. Finishing races better is the key to overtake the Jayhawks in the dual’s second day, according to Sorenson.

“We just told the kids they got to keep fighting like they are,” Sorenson said. 

In the 1-meter diving event Kansas senior Jiaya Chen secured the win. Michelle Schlossmacher Smith and Jayna Misra scored points for the Cyclones in second and third. 

Schlossmacher Smith recorded a personal best in the one-meter with a score of 308.93. The team captain recorded another zone cut Friday evening, the 14th of the year for Smith. 

A 291.98 from Joscelyn Buss propelled her onto Iowa State’s top-ten performers list. Buss took third place for the Cyclones. 

No athlete, however, could match the score of 335.65 put up by Chen from Kansas. 

In the 100-breaststroke Senior standout from Kansas Kate Steward bested Martha Haas and Lehr Thorson. Steward was ahead of the Cyclone seniors by 1.79 seconds. 

Iowa State’s Brinley Horras would take first in the 1000-yard freestyle by a comfortable margin. The sophomore from Ames, Iowa picked up Iowa State’s first win of the dual by a margin of seven seconds. The win in the 1000-free would remain the Cyclones only outright win of Friday evening’s contest. 

In the final event, Kansas swept the top three positions in the 50-yard freestyle. 

The Cyclones are looking to rematch the Jayhawks after finishing second at the Kansas Classic in mid-November. To do so, Iowa State will need a to make push in the dual’s final eight events happening Saturday morning. 

Saturday morning will mark the final competition at Beyer Pool for Iowa State’s eight seniors.