Minnesota Women Dominate Iowa, Hawkeye Men Edge Gophers

Minnesota vs Iowa

• Friday, October 27, 2017
• University of Iowa Aquatic Center
• Iowa City, IA
• Full Results (PDF)

Rivals Minnesota and Iowa clashed on Friday, with the Gopher women and the Hawekeye men walking away with wins. Minnesota didn’t lose a single race on the women’s side, winning the meet by a score of 190-109, while the Iowa men won a much closer battle by a score of 162-138.

Women

The Gopher women were led by a group of five who each won two individual events and contributed on at least one of the two victorious relays.

The Gophers started the meet off with a win in the 200 medley relay in a time of 1:41.87, as Tevyn Waddell, Lindsey Kozelsky, Danielle Nack and Kaia Grobe finished nearly two seconds clear of Iowa. The five double-winners on the day would follow with five back-to-back wins, as Mackenzie Padington, Chantal Nack, Waddell, Kozelsky and Danielle Nack put Minnesota out to an insurmountable lead.

The freshman Padington started things off with a 1-2-3 Gopher finish in the 1000 free, touching 1st by over 15 seconds in 9:53.22. Chantal Nack won the 200 free in 1:48.01, Waddell blitzed the 100 back field in 53.90, and then Kozelsky and D.Nack produced a pair of NCAA ‘B’ cuts in the next two events. Kozelsky hit the 100 breast cut on the money, touching in 1:02.49 for the win. Nack did likewise in the 200 fly, slipping under the mark by 0.03 in 1:59.56.

Junior Zoe Avestruz continued the momentum in the 50 free, winning in 23.20. After the diving break the same five swimmers were back at it, with Padington (100 free), Waddell (200 back), Kozelsky (200 breast), C.Nack (500 free) and D.Nack (100 fly) sweeping the board as the second diving break came. Additionally, Waddell (1:58.55) and D.Nack (54.24) achieved NCAA ‘B’ cuts.

Danielle Bergeson finished things off individually for Minnesota, winning the 200 IM in 2:05.20, and the Nack sisters, Avestruz and Padington closed the meet with a win in the 400 free relay. In the diving, Minnesota’s Mariam Khamis won both the 1-meter and 3-meter to give them a perfect 16/16 meet.

Despite putting no wins on the board, the Hawkeye women still had some solid performances. Sophomore Hannah Burvill had three runner-up finishes in the 100, 200 and 500 free, and senior Kelly McNamara and freshman Kelsey Drake both had solid runner-up showings in the 100 and 200 fly, respectively.

Men

As previously mentioned, the men’s meet was much more tightly contested. The Iowa men prevailed by just 24 points, thanks to a pair of relay wins and two men putting two individual wins on the board.

Junior Kenneth Mende was an ace on backstroke, dominating both the 100 (48.59) and 200 (1:46.73), as well as leading off the victorious 200 medley relay. Jerzy Twarowski swept the fly events in times of 48.06 (‘B’ cut) and 1:48.38, and also was on the 200 medley relay.

The Hawkeyes were also buoyed by individual wins from Michael Tenney (1000 free), Joe Myhre (100 free), as well as divers Will Brenner (1-meter) and Anton Hoherz (3-meter). In the final event of the night, the 400 free relay, Myhre and teammates Jack Smith, Will Scott and Michal Brzus all put up 44s to win easily in 2:58.57. Smith and freshman Daniel Swanepoel were the two who joined Mende and Twarowski on the winning 200 medley relay.

Minnesota was led by senior Conner McHugh, who put up a pair of ‘B’ cuts in winning the 100 (54.74) and 200 breast (1:57.13). In the 200 he crushed the ‘B’ cut by over two seconds, as teammate Brian Poon also got under the mark in 1:59.26. McHugh was an honorable mention All-American last season in both breaststroke events, placing 11th and 12th respectively at the NCAA Championships.

Poon had a win of his own in the 200 IM, and Kyle Van Niekerk (200 free), Bowen Becker (50 free), and Cameron Kelley (500 free) also earned wins.

Check out press releases from Minnesota and Iowa here.