Nov. 10, 2003
THIS WEEK — The University of Iowa men’s swimming team will travel to South Bend, IN, to compete against Notre Dame, Lousiville and BYU. Competiton will begin on Friday at 2 p.m (EST). at the Rolfs Aquatic Center on the campus of Notre Dame.
LAST COMPETITION — Iowa Hawkeyes competed against Purdue at home last Friday. They came away with a 162.5-137.5 victory over the Boilermakers. The Hawkeyes are off to their best start under Coach Davey. Iowa is currently 2-1 in the Big Ten.
ON NOTRE DAME — The Fighting Irish opened their season with a first place finish at the Dennis Stark Relays. Since then the Irish have fallen in three straight dual meets, including a loss to Big Ten’s Michigan State 113.5-125.5 last Friday.
ON BYU — The Cougars have a record of 2-0, and are currently ranked 18th nationally. Both of there victories came in conference against the Utah Utes and UNLV Runnin’ Rebels.
ON LOUISVILLE — The Cardinals are currently 2-6 overall after opening the season in gruelling fashion. They have already competed in ten events.
HEAD COACH John Davey — Former Hawkeye all-American John Davey is in his fifth year as head swim coach. Davey is the only Big Ten athlete in any sport to ever be named conference Athlete of the Year in their sport four consecutive years. While at Iowa, Davey won 10 Big Ten titles and was a 10-time all-American.
DIVING COACH Bob Rydze — Bob Ryzde is in his 29th year as diving coach of the men’s and women’s teams at the University of Iowa, and is the dean of Big Ten swimming and diving coaches. Rydze has coached three Olympians.
QUOTING DAVEY — “Once again this should be a good competition for our guys. Notre Dame is a much improved team, and has a lot of depth on it’s squad. BYU is a very good team, they are currently ranked 18th nationally. They should be an excellent challenge for our guys. Louisville will be a good match for us, hopefully we can pick up a victory against Lousiville. Last week was a good competition for our squad. We have a taste of victory now and we are looking to continue our success. Individually, Elliot Ptasnik swam his personal best in the 100 breaststroke, and Andrei Ciurca swam a career best in the 200 backstroke. It is very impressive to see the times we are posting so early in the season.”