THIS WEEK: The University of Iowa women’s swimming and diving team will travel to Evanston to take on the Northwestern Wildcats Saturday, January 31. The meet is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. The women will make up their meet with Minnesota at the UI Field House Pool Sunday, February 1. The diving portion of Sunday’s meet will start at 10:30 a.m., with the swimming portion starting at noon.
LAST TIME OUT: The Hawkeyes fell to Ohio State and Illinois in Columbus, OH January 24. Jennifer Skolaski won the 100-back and finished fourth in the 500-free and 200-IM. Skolaski also took second in the 1,000-free event. Sophomore Kelly Werner tied for first in the 200-back with a time of 2:04.44.
QUOTING O’KEEFFE: “These are big because they are the last two meets for us before the Big Ten meet. Northwestern is very tough competition, we look forward to a very close meet. Minnesota is strong, but I think we can hold our own in the team events. I’m happy we were able to reschedule since this is the last home meet for our seniors.”
HEAD COACH: Garland O’Keeffe is in her fourth season as head coach of the Hawkeyes. She has a school and career record of 21-21, 8-15 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.
DIVING COACH: Bob Rydze is in his 28th year as diving coach of the men 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, Randy Ableman (United States), Ricardo Camacho (Spain) and Tomas Rossa (Poland). Rydze came to Iowa in 1975 from the Dad’s Club diving team in Houston, TX. He also coached at Eastern Michigan from 1971-73.