Women remain unbeaten, men fall to Iowa in Iowa City

The Gophers women’s swimming and diving team continued its strong start to the season defeating Iowa 205-95, pushing their record to 5-0 (3-0 Big Ten).

Head coach Terry Nieszner said she was happy with the performance, even though the team must make some corrections moving forward.

“We were very happy again with the performance. I know Iowa is definitely ready to compete with us. I think once again we did a great job,” Nieszner said. “We still have a lot of things to work on — details and some things like that.”

Minnesota won 13 of 16 events and set three pool records at Iowa’s Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Pool.

 Freshman Tori Simenec contributed three wins to the effort, winning — and setting a pool record — in the 100-yard freestyle (50.52 seconds), the 200-yard butterfly (2:03.85) and the 400-yard freestyle relay.

Sophomore Tess Behrens set a pool record with a time of 53.69 in the 100-yard backstroke. Behrens also won the 200-yard backstroke, and was part of the 200-yard medley relay that opened the meet with a victory. 

The other pool record set at the meet was freshman Jessica Plant’s 1:48.15 swim in the 200-yard freestyle. Plant was also part of the 400-yard freestyle relay that finished first in the last event of the day.

Sophomore diver Maggie Keefer, a week after being named co-Big Ten Diver of the Week, won both the 1-meter (290.93) and the 3-meter (324.38) diving events for the second straight week.

Keefer has won the 1-meter event at all five meets this season, which she credits to her comfort level on the board.

“I feel more relaxed in the 1-meter … the 1-meter is just a little more natural to me,” Keefer said.

Keefer posted NCAA Zone Diving qualifying marks in each event.

Men fall to 1-1 after Iowa defeat

A week after defeating Wisconsin, the Minnesota men won seven of 16 events against Iowa and fell 160.5 -139.5.

After the loss, head men’s and women’s coach Kelly Kremer said that many of the little things must be improved, and the team will “continue to work on those all year.”

“It’s the starts and the turns and the streamlines and the relay exchanges and race strategies and all the little things that add up to great racing,” Kremer said.

Many individuals performed well at the meet, despite the team loss. Sophomore Kyler Van Swol, who posted four victories against Wisconsin, won the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:48.20.

Last week’s Big Ten Diver of the Week, sophomore Turner Eckstrom, continued his early season success, posting victories in the 1-meter (344.48) and 3-meter (337.58) events. Both scores are NCAA Zone Diving qualifying marks.

In the 100-yard breaststroke, Gophers teammates Jared Anderson and Josh Hall finished first and second, respectively.

Anderson finished with a time of 54.76, and Hall with a time of 54.88. Both times were NCAA provisional qualifying times, and Anderson’s was a pool record.

Despite the loss, Kremer said that the way the team competed will be helpful in the coming months.

“They never felt that they were out of the meet and they really continued to fight right up until the last event, and that’s the biggest positive, and that’s the stuff that will pay off in February and March,” Kremer said.

The Gophers will next see action when they host the Minnesota Grand Prix on Nov. 11 to 13 at the University Aquatic Center.