Ames Today

Iowa State University's women's swimming and diving team faced the University of Illinois in their second regular season dual meet on Friday in Ames, Iowa. The Cyclones were defeated by the Illini with a final score of 121-65.

Head coach Matt Leach commented on the team's performance, stating, "I'm still getting more data points on the right lineup for relays and the right lineup for our events as we move deeper into the season. But, you know, across the board we saw better times and better splitting, and that's all we can expect and ask for from our girls."

The meet began with Iowa State's medley relay team—Lili Neisser, Matilde Geromin, Keirlyn Mullica, and Grace Swoboda—finishing third in the opening event, earning two points with a time of 1:46.62.

Freshman Carlotta Gazzola led much of the 1000-yard freestyle but finished second, just over a second behind Illinois' Liv Dorshorst. Gazzola improved her personal best by two seconds, finishing in 10:23.29.

In the 100 backstroke, Emma Kuhn and Neisser placed second and third respectively, combining for seven points. Kuhn finished in 57.11 seconds, while Neisser posted a time of 57.54.

Matilde Geromin secured Iowa State's first event win of the night in the 200 breaststroke, improving her time by over two seconds. She has now won this event in both of Iowa State's meets this season. Anja Peck added three points by finishing third in the same event.

Kendall Mallers, a freshman, earned three points for Iowa State in the 100 butterfly by placing third with a personal best time of 57.64.

In the 50 freestyle, Swoboda and Neisser finished second and third, both swimming under 25 seconds and collecting seven points for Iowa State. Swoboda was less than half a second behind Illinois' Isabella Wilhelm.

In 3-meter diving, Maggie Bendell narrowly defeated Illinois' Matilda Garcia by four-tenths of a point to claim the win for Iowa State. Teammates Iona Moffat and Kate Mitchell finished third and fourth, respectively. All three divers achieved NCAA zone qualifying scores.

The Cyclones' 400 freestyle relay team—Corinne Guist, Megan Marquardt, Keirlyn Mullica, and Swoboda—finished second in the final event of the night with a time of 3:32.25.

Event winners from Illinois included Sophia Paduano in the 100 backstroke, Sara Jass in both the 200 freestyle and 200 individual medley, Chloe Diner in the 100 butterfly, and Isabella Wilhelm in the 50 freestyle. Illinois also won both relay events.

Iowa State will compete again against Illinois on Saturday, October 18. Both teams will participate in Iowa State's Pink Meet to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month.