The Iowa State swimming and diving team is hosting the Iowa Hawkeyes at 6 p.m. on Dec. 8 in Beyer Pool.

There’s no doubt of the importance this meet carries for both teams. Each team wants to improve their rank by winning the Cy-Hawk series. 

“I think it is a great meet always,” said diving coach Jeff Warrick. “It would be very competitive.”

After two important invite competitions, the diving team has a comparatively long time to adjust themselves. When facing the Iowa Hawkeyes, Warrick just demands his divers be consistent with their usual practice, feel relaxed and confident.

“The divers in Iowa are very good and have lots of experience,” Warrick said. “But I expect our team’s best performance.”

Dana Liva, Sydney Ronald and Katherine Mueller are going to compete in this week’s meet. After qualifying for the Zone Diving Championship, Liva and Ronald believe every meet now is a preparation for the championship.

For the swimming team, head coach Duane Sorenson wants to see more developments in this week’s meet than the Kansas Classic.

“I am a little disappointed in team place in the Kansas Classic,” Sorenson said. “We lost a lot of points because some of the swimmers were sick.”

For achieving this goal, the swimming team did more speed work this week than they normally do in training weeks. Besides that, the swimmers are very excited to compete against the Iowa swimmers. Also, they need to control their mindsets and find a lot of energy.

“We are a little better than they are in distance freestyle and other freestyle events,” Sorenson said. “Breaststroke races can be pretty even between their swimmers and our swimmers.”

Senior Danica Delaquis and freshman Martha Haas have had some good performances in breaststroke events this season. They need to help Iowa State receive more points in the breaststroke event.

Senior student Mary Kate Luddy is also focusing on Iowa and her last Cy-Hawk meet.

During the Kansas Classic, Luddy scored 45 points, leading the Cyclones in individual points. She competed in the ‘A’ finals 100-yard butterfly, which she placed second in, the 200-yard freestyle and two relays. Luddy was honored as Iowa State’s representative in the all-invite teams because of her performances.

“I am really happy with my performance this semester. I won’t say I have an expectation really going out there [in senior year],” Luddy said. “I just want to be a [good] teammate and make our team stronger.”

As a swimmer who can cover multiple events, it will be interesting to see how many events she will take on in Friday’s meet.

“We focus on a little detail [in this week’s practice] and more things to get ready for Iowa,” Luddy said.