Black and Gold Showdown

Oct. 3, 2011

Complete Release

THIS WEEK
The Iowa men’s and women’s swimming and diving team will host the annual Black and Gold Intrasquad meet Saturday. The exhibition will take place at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Pool beginning at 11 a.m.

“We’re excited for the opportunity to compete this weekend at our annual Black and Gold Intrasquad meet,” said head coach Marc Long. “It’s always a lot of fun for the team, as the captains get to pick the teams and the meet lineups. We are anxious to get the season started and see everyone race.”

LIVE STATS
For live results from your computer or smart phone, visit: http://stats.iowaswimming.com/ . Free WiFi is available at the CRWC for all students and faculty.

EVENT PROMOTIONS
Fans can pick up 2011-12 swimming and diving posters, calendar cards, stickers and bumper stickers from the marketing table located in the pool gallery at the main entrance.

RETURNING ALL-AMERICANS
The men’s squad returns all four members of the 400 free relay that earned All-America honors at the 2011 NCAA Championships. Paul Gordon, Jordan Huff, Duncan Partridge and Ryan Phelan placed 15th (2:54.82) in the relay to earn All-America accolades.

The women’s squad returns All-America diver Veronica Rydze. She earned the accolade after finishing 13th on the one-meter board (296.35) at the NCAA Championships.

NEXT EVENT
The Iowa men and women’s swimming team will open its regular season Oct. 20 when it travels to Big Ten rival Wisconsin. The competition will begin at 5 p.m.

HEAD COACH Marc Long
Marc Long is in his eighth season as head coach for the University of Iowa swimming team. It’s his seventh as head coach of the combined program. During his tenure as head coach of both programs, 36 school records have fallen and 74 Hawkeyes have provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships.

DIVING COACH Bob Rydze
Bob Rydze is in his 37th year as diving coach of the men and women’s teams at the University of Iowa. Rydze served as Team Leader for USA Diving at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. During his tenure with the Hawkeyes, Rydze has coached 33 All-Americans, nine Big Ten and one NCAA Champion.

CAMPUS RECREATION AND WELLNESS CENTER
Ground was broken for the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center in October 2007. The facility opened in August 2010 and is home for the Hawkeyes. It is located at the corner of Burlington and Madison streets and cost approximately $69 million. The facility includes a 50-meter competition pool, a separate diving well, a leisure pool with lap lanes and 24,000 square feet of fitness space.

IOWA SWIMMING HISTORY & TRADITION
Iowa was one of the first schools in the nation to compete on a collegiate level and competed at the first NCAA Championship. From 1937 to 1960, Iowa placed in the NCAA top 10 18 times, crowning nine NCAA and 22 Big Ten champions.

CAPTAINS COUNCIL
Six student-athletes have been named to the 2011-12 Captains’ Council. Ryan Phelan, Jordan Huff and Kyle Noser will captain the men’s squad, while Daniela Cubelic, Danielle Carty and Haley Gordon will captain the women’s squad. The Captains’ Council was voted on by their peers and coaches.

SEASON PREVIEW
Head coach Marc Long and the University of Iowa swimming and diving program have its sights set on moving up in the Big Ten standings in the 2011-12 season. The Hawkeyes will get a chance to accomplish the feat in their home pool, as the program is set to host both the men’s and women’s Big Ten Championships — the first time Iowa City has played host for the men since 1982 and the women since 1985.

“It’s been 30 years since we last hosted the Championships on campus,” said Long, who is entering his eighth season as head coach and 12th season with the program. “Having a facility that can host a meet like this is really tremendous. It means a lot to the program to get that back. In a lot of ways it is the beginning of what we can do to host a meet like this again and to host other high caliber meets.”

Long’s focus is to build a program that can compete at a championship level. UI student-athletes have set goals to reach the highest level and are starting to think and train at higher levels. The program has added high-caliber teams to the schedule to help prepare for the championship season.

“I like it as a coach that they have accepted the goals at a higher level and they are thinking and training at a higher level,” said Long. “Our student-athletes are thinking of scoring at the NCAAs, so to have a program shift like that is another necessary step to having a winning program and attracting higher caliber athletes to our program.”

The Hawkeye men return four All-Americans and NCAA qualifiers as well as the top performers in 13-of-14 individual events. Last season, Iowa posted the top times in school history in all five relays and three individual events. The squad also clocked NCAA “B” cut times in 11 individual events and five relays.

“The men are returning all four of the NCAA qualifiers and that is exciting as we prepare to host the Big Ten Championships,” said Long. “We certainly want to move up in the conference standings as part of our plan to be building a championship-caliber team.

“We want to get back to NCAAs and score even higher and continue the development with this group. We have such a large freshman class coming, which should provide even more excitement.”

The women’s squad returns their top performer in 10-of-14 individual events and one All-America diver. The Hawkeye women also have a large class of newcomers joining the squad.

“Nearly half of our women’s team is new this year,” said Long. “We are excited about the class of newcomers and the senior leadership that have been Big Ten point scorers.”