Oct. 7, 2003
Iowa City, IA –
THIS WEEK: The Iowa women’s swimming team will start the season off with an intersquad meet this weekend. The Hawkeyes are preparing for their first meet with Kansas and UNI on October 18, in Iowa City.
LOOKING BACK: The Iowa women will look to improve on a successful 2002-03 season. Iowa placed eighth at the Big Ten championships, and sent divers Nancilea Underwood and Lisette Planken, and swimmer Jennifer Skolaski to the NCAA championships. All three competitors earned all-American honors.
QUOTING O’KEEFFE: “This will be a good chance for us to work out a few kinks. It’s the first time we’ve gotten the chance to compete since spring. This is the first time we’ve had the men and women compete at an intersquad meet, the black and gold teams will each have men and women, and their captains will be selecting who competes in what events. I think it will really be a lot of fun and it will also give us a chance to see where we’re at.”
2003-04 OUTLOOK: The women’s team returns four seniors, nine juniors, nine sophomores, and five freshmen. Senior Christie Hooper looks to continue her successes from the 2002-03 season, which included 30 top five finishes and 10 wins. Michelle Bagi and Lisa Haunz will bring strength to the backstroke and butterfly. Junior Jennifer Skolaski will try to break additional records this year as she did last season in the 100 backstroke and 400 individual medley. Skolaski also notched 18 wins and 33 top five finishes. Leading the sophomores are Kelly Werner and Andrea Hemphill. Werner led the Hawkeyes in the 100 butterfly last season, while Hemphill lead in the 200. Newcomers for the Hawkeyes include freshmen Emmy Haeger, Erin Petty, Robin Samples, Jaclyn Sarna, Joyce VanKeulen, and Katie Martin, a sophomore transfer from Wisconsin.
HEAD COACH: Garland O’Keeffe is in her third season as head coach of the Hawkeyes. She has a school and career record of 18-16, 6-12 in the Big Ten. O’Keeffe has coached three honorable mention all-Americans, three NCAA qualifiers and a Big Ten champion. The Hawkeyes have also shattered 19 school records in the last two years. O’Keeffe gained US National Team coaching experience over the summer when she was selected as an assistant coach for the National Team Distance Camp at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.