Jan. 22, 2011
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IOWA CITY, Iowa–The University of Iowa men’s swimming and diving team returned home Saturday to host one of the most exciting home meets of the season against the Northwestern Wildcats. The Hawkeyes edged out the Wildcats 156-142 after a back-and-fourth meet. Iowa is now 4-1 overall and 3-1 in the Big Ten.
The meet kicked off with the 200 medley relay. The Hawkeyes put up a good fight against the Wildcats but came just short of the victory. The quartet of freshman Dustin Rhoads, senior Sean Hagan, sophomore Byron Butler and junior Ryan Phelan finished second in the event with a time of 1:31.65, behind Northwestern’s first-place relay (1:31.37).
“Northwestern is always a talented team, so it’s nice to come out with a win,” said Head Coach Marc Long. “The team is pretty beaten up right now, as are many other programs throughout the country right now. We were missing some of our key players, so we were happy to see people step-in and do the job.”
Sophomore Jordon Huff grabbed the crowd’s attention with his 200 free performance, capturing Iowa’s first victory of the meet. Huff touched the wall first with a time of 1:39.72, beating out Northwestern’s top swimmer by one second (1:40.70).
Rhoads continued the winning momentum into the 100 back. He posted a first-place finishing time of 49.85. Senior Max Dittmer came in second in the event with a time of 50.36. Phelan and sophomore Duncan Partridge went on to later finish first and second in the 50 free. Phelan took the top-spot in the event with a time of 20.47 and Partridge touched the wall in second at 20.75.
Butler and Dittmer claimed first and second-place in the 200 back with times of 1:48.49 and 1:49.35, respectively. The Hawkeyes swept the top-two spots in yet another event. Partridge recorded a first-place finish in the 100 free with a time of 44.88, while Huff came in second with a time of 45.94. Junior Paul Gordon had a big win near the end of the meet for the Hawkeyes. He came out victorious in the 100 fly with a time of 49.05
The divers started out the diving competition with the 3-meter diving event. Freshman Osvel Molina was the only diver to compete for the Hawkeyes because freshman Arsen Sarkisian was out due to injury. Molina stepped up for the Hawkeyes winning the 3-meter event with a score of 286.65. Molina went on to capture first-place in the 1-meter event with a collegiate best score of 305.48.
Going into the last race of the afternoon, the 400 free relay, the Hawkeyes lead the Wildcats 141-140. In order for the Hawkeyes to win the meet, they needed to come out with a first-place finish. Freshman Devon Meeks, Huff, Phelan and Partridge teamed up for the event. The first two swimmers for the Hawkeyes were neck- and-neck with the Wildcats. Phelan dove in for the third-leg of the relay to help pull Iowa ahead. By the time Partridge was in the water, there was no looking back for the Hawkeyes. The relay team touched the wall in first at 3:01.71.
Iowa will return to action when it travels to South Bend, Ind., Jan. 28-29 to compete at the Shamrock Invite.