Before the Thanksgiving break, the Iowa State swimming and diving team still has a big challenge from the unique meets. Specifically, the swimming team and diving team are setting out for their own meet respectively.

The Cyclone diving team has faced a very tough schedule in recent weeks. Last Friday, it finished the dual meet and Minnesota invitational, and two divers Sydney Ronald and Dana Liva qualified for the zone championship.

“To be honest, I would like all of my divers to qualify,” diving coach Jeff Warrick said. “That’s what we are shooting for.”

Obviously, each diver has a different spot, but Warrick wants his divers to have the ability to face the challenge, including the tough schedule. In fact, the performance of the diving team got much better after the first meet with Nebraska.

Last year, Ronald was suffering from an injury and missed many competitions. This season, she came back and received higher scores gradually.

Also, the diving team will learn from each meet for their next competition. Warrick always encourages his divers to correct their mistakes in the competition even though he knows it is not easy for an athlete to perform their moves perfectly.

“I had a really good coach who inspired me,” Warrick said. “That made me try to become a college coach.”

He also inspires all of his athletes and helps them figure out the problems in their former competitions.

For the swimming team, they are going to Topeka, Kansas for the three-day Kansas Classic meet form Nov. 17 to 19. Six teams are competing together. It is kind of like the last dual meet. One difference is the schedule. Swimmers need to compete both during the day and at night. For each event, two races are necessary.

“Many swimmers have that experience,” head coach Duane Sorenson said. “It is the same style as the Big-12 championship and it is a chance for us to prepare for future races.”

Besides the senior swimmers, Iowa State has more outstanding freshmen now. Newcomer Martha Haas is good at breaststroke and swam much faster than the team. She won the medley relay in the last meet with her senior teammate. Hass needs more experience for her first year in the swimming team.

Of course, it will be very tiring for all of swimmers involved in the three-day meet. Sorenson and the other swimmers have prepared for the situation.

“We won’t have practice tomorrow morning which we normally do most weeks,” Sorenson said. “So they get a little break after training and have more energy for this weekend.”