University of Minnesota Athletics
Undefeated Gophers On The Road To Iowa
11/3/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
Nov. 3, 2011
University of Minnesota women's swimming and diving team will take on Big-Ten rival Iowa, Friday on the road at Iowa's Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Pool.The meet is set to begin at 5 p.m.
"We prepare for every meet to perform at our very best. Iowa will be ready for us - they have a beautiful new facility, which will host the 2012 Big Ten Championship," said head coach Terry Nieszner. "They have advertised it as a "Black Out," encouraging fans to wear black to the meet. They have a t-shirt give away to the first 100 fans and a raffle for tickets to the Iowa vs. Michigan State football game. So it will be an exciting environment to compete in, and knowing they are undefeated makes it a great Big Ten dual meet atmosphere."
The Gopher women will be entering this competition with a 4-0 record after their recent defeat against rival Wisconsin, (177-121). Minnesota has also beat Michigan (200-150), Iowa State (199-100) and Kansas (206-87). During the Big-Ten meet against longtime rival Wisconsin, the women's team won nine of 16 events and posted NCAA provisional qualifying times in five of those, with freshman Tori Simenec leading all Gophers with three victories.
This squad is full of tremendous talent; including sophomore Tess Behrens who added two wins against the Badgers and posted her third NCAA provisional qualifying time of the season in the 100 backstrokes by touching the wall in a time of 54.75. Added a first-place finish in the 200 backstrokes with a time of 2:00.93. Also senior Ashley Steenvoorden, who just returned from the Pan American games, and sophomore Maggie Keefer also posted two wins a piece for Minnesota, with Steenvoorden claiming first-place honors in the 1000 freestyle (9:49.39) and the 500 freestyle (4:50.01), while Keefer recorded two NCAA Zone Diving qualifying marks in both 1 meter diving and 3 meter diving with scores of 315.30 and 301.80, respectively.
Iowa is also full of some great talent, which will make for good competition on Friday. Hawkeye Freshman Becky Stoughton set a school and pool record in the 400 IM with a time of 4:17.90 at Iowa's meet against Michigan State on Oct. 29. Stoughton's time was also a NCAA `B' qualifying time and marked a collegiate best for Stoughton and ranks fourth in school history.
"Every dual meet against a Big Ten opponent is important. This should be a great meet and once again our team loves to compete and we are looking forward to it. We will face a similar challenge as last week vs. Wisconsin as we will travel by bus to Iowa City on Friday morning. Travel on the same day as competing is not ideal, but we will prepare for it and expect to compete at our best", said Nieszner.
Players Mentioned
