The Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday knocked-out their requisite training trip competition at the 2015 St. Pete’s Classic in St. Petersburg, Florida. The women’s team topped a four-team field, while the men beat out their lone opponents South Dakota State.
Women’s scores
- Iowa – 126
- South Dakota State – 80
- Arkansas – Little Rock – 80
- Sacred Heart – 50
Men’s scores
- Iowa – 126
- South Dakota State – 90
The Hawkeyes swept all 18 events at the all-relay meet, and on the men’s side the standout performer was Jack Allen, who despite the heavy training swam well for Iowa. He led off the winning 3×100 all-butterfly relay in 49.85, combining with Tyler Nichols (51.15) and Maverick Hovey (51.71) for victory as part of a 1-2-3 finish.
The junior has only swum the race at one other meet this season which was the mid-year Hawkeye Invitational in early December. There, he swam a lifetime best and NCAA Provisional time of 47.57.
Allen also led-off Iowa’s 2nd-place 200 free relay with a 21.47 and their winning 400 free relay in 46.20.
For South Dakota State, top performer honors go to sophomore Matthew Carpenter. Though all three of his swims came on last-place relays, he had honorable swims that included a 1:47.49 on the 800 free relay; a 53.25 anchor on the 3×100 backstroke relay; and a 1:48.00 anchor on the 500 free (50/100/150/200) relay.
For the Iowa women, the best performances came from the traditional 200 medley and 400 free relays that ended the session.
In the 200 medley, Iowa finished 1-2-3 with their relays swimming 1:51.44, 1:51.48, and 1:51.71, respectively. As one would imagine with three relays being that close, the best splits on each leg were divided amongst the ‘A,’ ‘B,’ and ‘C’ relays. The touch-out came from the group of Rowan Hauber (28.24), Shea Hoyt (31.26), Carly O’Brien (26.68), and Lauren Leehy (25.26) – exciting in that all four are just freshmen.
The ‘best splits’ relay would’ve come out a second faster in 1:50.21.
Iowa went 1-2-3 again in the 400 free relay with the team of Taylor Flummerfelt (54.47), Carly O’Brien (54.96), Emma Sougstad (55.70), and Olivia Kabacinski (55.03) combining for a 3:40.16. This relay wasn’t quite as competitive, but again the best split of the relay wasn’t among the winners: freshman Meghan Lavelle split 53.21 to anchor the team’s ‘B’ relay.
Lavelle could be the big coup in this Iowa freshman class. Though it’s no longer her best time (she was a very good 51.3 against Iowa State 3 weeks ago), that 53.21 split is faster than her lifetime best was when she arrived at Iowa.