The University of Iowa men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams heads to the Windy City to open the 2015-16 season. The Hawkeyes will face Illinois Chicago on Sept. 25-26 at Flames Natatorium in Chicago. Action begins at 4 p.m. (CT) on Friday and 10 a.m. on Saturday.
WOMEN’S NOTES
The University of Iowa women’s swimming and diving team travels to the Windy City to face Illinois Chicago on Sept. 25-26 in its season-opener. The Hawkeyes and Flames will compete in a dual meet at the Flames Natatorium beginning at 4 p.m. (CT) on Friday and 10 a.m. on Saturday.
SOUGSTAD RETURNS TO FOLD
Junior Emma Sougstad returns as the leader of the Iowa program after qualifying for the NCAA Championships in three events as a sophomore. The Forest City, Iowa, native holds school records in the 100 breast (59.96), 200 breast (2:11.20), 200 IM (1:58.74), 200-free relay (1:30.96), 200-medley relay (1:39.18), and 400-medley relay (3:38.68). She posted eight top-10 finishes at the 2015 Big Ten Championships, and finished 18th in the country in the 100 breast.
OFF THE PLATFORM
The Hawkeyes have two accomplished platform divers returning in 2015-16 with the return of juniors Calli Head and Lydia Lehnert. Head qualified for the NCAA Championships as a sophomore, finishing 40th nationally and tallied an eighth-place finish at the Big Ten Championships. Lehnert returns as the Iowa school record holder in the event, diving to a score of 312.20 at the 2015 Big Ten Championships
TOP SPRINTER RETURNS
The Hawkeyes have their top sprinter returning to the fold in 2015-16 in senior Olivia Kabacinski. The Indiana native is the school record holder in six events — 50 free (22.70), 100 free (49.61), and 200-free relay (1:30.96), 400-free relay (3:21.07), 800-free relay (7:12.49), and 200-medley relay (1:39.18). Kabacinski is the first Hawkeye sprinter to break the 50-second mark in the 100 free and one of two to go under 23 seconds in the 50 free.
LEHNERTZ’S PAN AM EXPERIENCE
Sophomore Tereysa Lehnertz competed on the international stage last summer, swimming for Puerto Rico at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto. The Iowa City, Iowa, native advanced to the”B” final in the 100-meter and 200-meter butterfly. As a freshman at Iowa, Lehnertz had the second-best times in the 100 and 200-yard fly. The 200 fly time (2:00.84) is third-fastest in school history.
HAWKEYE NEWCOMERS
The Hawkeyes feature seven newcomers on the 2015-16 roster, including Olivia Cook, Devin Jacobs, Natalie McGovern, Kelly McNamara, Abbey Schneider, Jacintha Thomas, and Katie Wells. The group has four athletes from Illinois, one from Iowa, Minnesota, and Indiana. Four of the newcomers were high school All-Americans.
MEN’S NOTES
The University of Iowa men’s swimming and diving team heads to the Land of Lincoln to open the 2015-16 season. The Hawkeyes will face Illinois Chicago on Sept. 25-26 at Flames Natatorium in Chicago. Action begins at 4 p.m. (CT) on Friday and 10 a.m. on Saturday.
RETURNING NCAA QUALIFIERS
Four of Iowa’s five NCAA qualifiers from the 2014-15 season are back in the fold. The Hawkeyes return seniors Roman Trussov and Addison Boschult, junior Jackson Halsmer, and sophomore Jerzy Twarowski in 2015-16. The Hawkeyes have their top performers returning in 10-of-14 swimming events, all three diving events, and four top performers in relays. Iowa has 25 letterwinners returning in total.
ON THE TOWER
Senior Addison Boschult returns to lead the Iowa divers after earning honorable mention All-America honors on the platform at the 2015 NCAA Championships. Boschult holds the school record on the platform (409.20) and ranks fourth all-time on the 3-meter (368.60) and 10th on the 1-meter (325.13).
TRUSSOV: 2-TIME NCAA QUALIFIER
Senior Roman Trussov returns for his senior season as a two-time NCAA qualifier (2013, 2015). The Kazakhstan native holds the school records in the 100 breast (52.85), 200 breast (1:54.57) and as part of the 200 (1:25.53) and 400 (3:08.56) medley relays. Trussov placed 24th overall in the 100 breast and 28th in the 200 breast at the 2015 NCAA Championships.
TOP FLYER RETURNS
Sophomore Jerzy Twarowski is back for his second season as a Hawkeye and his second season competing in the yards distances. Twarowski became the first Iowa butterfly swimmer to break the 47-second mark during his first collegiate season, posting a school-record time of 46.70. He also broke a 22-year old school record (Rafal Szukala) in the 200 fly, finishing with a time of 1:44.00.
HAWKEYE NEWCOMERS
The men’s team features 11 newcomers to this year’s roster. Will Brenner, Ike Casey, Ben Colin, Drew Eisen, Andrew Hull, Matt Kamin, Kenneth Mende, Tanner Nelson, Quinn Risley, Sam Sauerbrei, and Jack Smith all join the team. This group of 11 men features three athletes from Iowa, two from Illinois, one from Nevada, Michigan, Arizona, Colorado, England, and Germany. The incoming swimmers feature four All-Americans.
Swimming news courtesy of Iowa Swimming & Diving.