After a few weeks of tapered practices and a season full of anticipation, the Iowa State Swim and Dive team journeyed to nice-weathered Austin, Texas to compete in the biggest meet of the year.

In the first day of the Big 12 Championships at the Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, the Cyclones turned up the tempo to find success at one of their last chances to make NCAA times and collect season best times. 

The Championships started for the Cyclones with personal records set by multiple swimmers in the morning time trials.

Freshman Freestyler Evan Hundley had a positive start to her first ever Big 12 Championships. Hundley swam her personal best time for the Cyclones in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 0:23.95.

Senior distance swimmer Mollie McNeal swam her personal best time for the Cyclones in the 50-yard freestyle, finishing at 0:25.42

 Freshman Ashton Ehrecke also collected a personal best in the 100 fly morning time trials, touching the pad at 0:58:81.

The Cyclones are hoping to finish their season as they did last year when they recorded the program’s best finish in history at the Big 12 Championships.

During the final session of the day, the 200-medley relay consisting of Harper Emswiler, Kasey Roberts, Kaylee Kucera and Alex Flatness finished in third place with a time of 1:40.93. The relay became the fifth fastest in Cyclone Swim and Dive history and stood on the podium and receive a bronze medal in front of the large crowd.

In the second heat of the 200-medley relay, Guy Shilon, Danica Delaquis, Kenzie Goudreau and Savanna Townsend finished third with a time of 1:43.57. A fifth place spot was earned by Marissa Engel, Megan Childs, Ashton Ehrecke and Maddie Rastall in the same heat with a finishing time of 1:45.37.

In the third heat of the 200 Medley relay, Haley Ruegemer, Laura Miksch, Shahar Silberman and Evan Hundley finished in second with a time of 1:48.22

The last event of the final session ended with a third place finish in the 800 freestyle relay which was formed by Kasey Roberts, Silqi Luo, Mark Kate Luddy and Brooke Evensen. The leg of the relay touched the pad at 7:19.36, making them the third fastest 800 freestyle relay in school history.

The Cyclones will attempt to keep their momentum up tomorrow as they compete in the second day of the competition.

The prelims will begin at 10 a.m. and finals will begin at 6 p.m.