Iowa State and Iowa’s longstanding rivalry has been a source of some of the most intense competition in Iowa.

Unfortunately for the Cyclones, the swimmers were bested by the Hawkeyes on Friday night, and Iowa added points to their Cy-Hawk competition total. The Iowa State swimming and diving team hasn’t beat Iowa since 2009, when they took a 167-133 lead over the Hawkeyes. 

“It’s kind of bittersweet, disappointed we lost the meet and how much we lost the meet by,” swimming coach Duane Sorenson said. “But, when you go back and look at event after event, there’s a lot of really close races. We were just getting beat here and there and that just starts adding up over the course of the meet.”

In swimming, a fraction of a second can come between first and second place, and can cost a win.

“I was a little disappointed in out women. We didn’t come back in the second half of the meet and swim better. We have a lot of things we still can work on. It’s a good learning experience for our women. When they think they’re working hard in practice, they have to find another level,” Sorenson said. 

The Cyclone divers managed to pull a win for the meet on the 3-meter boards, but fell to Iowa on the 1-meter boards. 

“I was really happy they had such a good start,” diving coach Jeff Warrick said. “Sometimes they get excited, they get up, and all of the sudden now they’re not competing, and they get out of rhythm and out of sync, and I think that might be somewhat what happened.”

Warrick, an Iowa native, said the meet meant a lot to him personally.

“it’s always a fun and competitive meet,” Warrick said. Kudos to the University of Iowa, they did a great job here tonight. We look forward to competting against them. It’s a big rivalry. Can’t wait until next year already.”

The Hawkeyes added two points to the Cy-Hawk score and ended the meet, winning 205-95.

The divers head to Athens, Ga., for the Georgia Diving Invitational January 1-7th, and the swimmers have their next meet at home on January 15th against Illinois.