Ames Today

Iowa State University's women's swimming and diving team secured a 180-115 victory over South Dakota State in Brookings on Thursday night. The Cyclones showed consistent performances across both swimming and diving events, achieving wins in multiple races and setting two new pool records.

Head coach Matt Leach commented on the team's efforts: "Our Cyclone family really stepped up today and showed some great growth from last week. This month of training is extremely hard, and to go three weekends in a row of racing can leave you tired, but I think we responded well. It's not every day that you set two pool records! Go Cyclones!"

The meet began with Iowa State winning the 200 medley relay, clocking a time of 1:46.50 with swimmers Emma Kuhn, Anja Peck, Kendall Mallers, and Grace Swoboda. Distance swimmer Carlotta Gazzola contributed by winning the 1650 freestyle in 17:24.79—a performance that broke the pool record by 3.5 seconds—and later taking first place in the 500 freestyle.

Coach Leach noted, "We started off in the 200 medley relay taking the win and continued that into the 1650 free with a 1-2 finish. Carlotta won with a pool record by 3.5 seconds. We continued the racing by going 1-2 in the next three events; the 100 back, 100 breast and 200 fly."

Other notable victories included Lili Neisser's wins in both the 100 backstroke (57.55) and the 200 backstroke (2:06.39), as well as Anja Peck's win in the 100 breaststroke (1:04.29) and Matilde Geromin’s win in the 200 breaststroke (2:18.78). Freshman Kendall Mallers claimed victories in both butterfly events.

The Cyclones capped off their evening by breaking their own previous pool record at Brookings during the final event, winning the 400 freestyle relay with Kuhn, Swoboda, Piper Hagen, and Corinne Guist finishing at 3:31.49.

"Coming off the first break, we got back to touching the wall first with winning the remainder of the events and ending the meet with a pool record that was previously held by Iowa State in 2021," said Leach.

In diving competitions, Maggie Bendell took first place on the one-meter board (284.93), while Kate Mitchell won on three-meter (295.50).

The Cyclones will compete again Friday afternoon against South Dakota at Vermillion’s DakotaDome pool.