The Iowa State swimming and diving team will look to take its first win over Iowa in a decade when the Cyclones face off against the Hawkeyes on Friday.

Currently, the all-time record between the two teams for swimming and diving is 30-14 in favor of Iowa. 

The last time the Cyclones beat the Hawkeyes was during the 2009-2010 season, although head coach Duane Sorenson said last year’s meet at Iowa was a close one. 

“We had an outstanding meet at their pool [last year],” Sorenson said. “We’re hoping to have that same type of performance and get one of those close wins that they got last year.

“Last year we had a couple of breakthrough performances by some of our team members, so if we can get a few of those we’ll be on our way.”

Like all sports in the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk series, Sorenson said the Cy-Hawk meet is very emotionally charged, and one of the keys to winning is to keep it at a “calm excitement.”

“Having the right mindset,” Sorenson said. “Trying to stay within yourself and not trying too hard.”

Iowa is currently 4-1 overall, while Iowa State is 3-2, and Sorenson said Iowa has had some outstanding performances in their recent meets.

“Their divers did great, they had some good competition,” Sorenson said. “They’re going to be a foe to be reckoned with.”

Sorenson said that the Iowa meet is usually when the swimmers get their best times and the divers score some of their best dives of the season.

“For a dual meet, we’ll swim our fastest times in the dual meet part of the year and so will they,” Sorenson said. “This is probably the most exciting dual meet as far as time-wise.”

While Sorenson said that Iowa has some stars that will be tough to catch, he said that in order to win, the Cyclones will need to make up for it in other areas.

“We’ll have races where we’ll be right there with them,” Sorenson said. “In their races where they’re going to win easily, we have to score the max number of points we can out of that, and the other races we have to try to take advantage of them.”

Sorenson said for this meet, they are preparing with more speed work and short swims, as well as the little details.

“We spend time working on starts and turns,” Sorenson said. “They are a very big part of any competition, to get our women focused on taking care of the details. In a meet like this, tenths of a second are going to determine winning and losing.”

The Cyclones placed second in the Kansas Classic — the swimmers’ most recent meet — and Sorenson said they will use that momentum to get ready for the Cy-Hawk dual. 

“Everybody stepped up and competed at a high level,” Sorenson said. “That gave us a lot of motivation that if we keep doing what we’re doing, that’s a good sign that we’re on our way to something special.”

Sorenson said it’s always fun to get a win over the Hawkeyes, and he’s hoping to get a win to help win the Cy-Hawk series, which the Hawkeyes are currently in the lead for, but he is also excited for the team.

“I’d be very excited for our women because they put a lot of work and time and effort into their training,” Sorenson said. “To see a great performance and see their reward and joy that they get out of it.”

Sorenson’s closing remark was to let everyone know to come out and support the Cyclones at Beyer Hall because “admission is free!”

The Cyclones are slated to face off against the Hawkeyes at 6 p.m Friday at Beyer Hall.