The following is a press release courtesy of the University of Iowa:
IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams kicked off its long course season with an intrasquad meet Saturday afternoon. The event, held at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center, featured the men’s and women’s teams being divided up and placed into two mixed teams. After an afternoon of racing, the black team came away with a 175.5-120.5 victory over the gold team.
The intrasquad opened up with the first round of the 50 freestyle. The event, held in knockout style, featured 14 women and 19 men in the opening round. After the first leg of swimming, the eight men and eight women with the fastest times moved into the quarterfinals. From there, the field was narrowed down to four men and four women to swim in the semis. Finally, two men and two women remained in the championship round of the event. On the women’s side, it was an all-black team final, as sophomore Olivia Kabacinski claimed the top spot with a final time of 27.66, while freshman teammate Taylor Flummerfelt took second, touching out in 28.25. For the men, sophomore Roman Trussov represented the gold team with a first place time of 24.98.
The black team opened the meet with three straight victories in relay events. Juniors Pamela Breitrick and Audrey Kumm, along with freshman Emma Sougstad claimed the 3 x 100 butterfly relay title, touching the wall in 3:23.99. The men on the black team followed suit, as freshman Kyle Patnode, and sophomores Maverick Hovey and Jackson Allen secured first place points with a time of 3:00.41. Finally, Flummerfelt, Breitrick, and Kumm paired up to take the 3 x 100 backstroke event, finishing in 3:38.32.
The gold team answered with a pair of victories, claiming the men’s 3 x 100 backstroke relay, as well as the women’s 3 x 100 breaststroke relay. Sophomore Andrew Parker, junior Chris Freeman, and junior Grant Betulius got the gold team into the win column with a time of 3:00.12 in the backstroke relay. The women responded with a victory of their own in the breaststroke relay, touching out in 4:03.37.
Three straight victories for the black team followed as they claimed the men’s breaststroke relay, as well as both the men’s and women’s 100 freestyle events. Junior Korey Schneider, freshman Nick Zito, and sophomore Matthew Boyd finished first in the 3 x 100 breaststroke relay, touching out in 3:30.98. Jennifer Weigand finished first in the women’s 100 freestyle (1:02.64), and freshmen Kyle Gannon (54.96) and Peter Grumhaus (54.98) swept the top two spots in the men’s 100 freestyle.
The 200 IM was swept by the gold team, as sophomore Allie Orvis won for the women (2:34.57), while Freeman finished in 2:17.35 to win for the men.
The final two relays of the afternoon were claimed by the black team, as the quartet of Sougstad, Flummerfelt, Kabacinski, and Weigand took the 400 freestyle relay in 4:27.00. Grumhaus, freshman Brandon Farnum, Allen, and Gannon closed out the meet with a first place time of 3:41.46.
The Hawkeyes will continue to train in the long course format throughout the spring and summer. The format, which is swum in the Olympic measurement of meters, is longer than the collegiate length of yards. The Hawkeyes will return to the short course format at the start of next fall.