Oct. 8, 2011
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IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa men and women’s swimming and diving team kicked off the 2011-12 season Saturday morning when it hosted the annual Black and Gold Intrasquad meet at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Pool. The gold team swam away with the title, winning 108-91.
“The idea of this meet is to have an opportunity to race,” said head coach Marc Long. “The team has been training hard since the beginning of school, so they were all anxious to race and they had a lot of fun doing the draft and picking the teams. We enjoy as coaches seeing them race and just having fun with each other.”
Freshman Becky Stoughton made her Hawkeye debut with a winning statement. She took first place and set pool records in the 1,000 (9:59.02), 200 (1:50.51) and 500 (4:53.42) free. Stoughton’s times in the 1,000 (9:59.02) and 500 (4:53.42) free both rank fourth overall in school history and her time of 1:50.51 in the 200 free ranks ninth overall.
Last seasons Big Ten runner-up in the 50 free, Ryan Phelan, set a pool record in the 50 free with a time of 20.20.
The meet kicked off with the 200 medley relay. The gold squad of Danielle Carty, April Allen, Aiste Dobrovolskaite and Elise Borja took an early led but Karolina Wartalowicz of the black team was able to catch up during the breast leg. The flyers were tied in the water but Dani Klunk pulled the black team ahead with her 50 free and touched the wall first. Heather Arseth, Wartalowicz, Haley Gordon and Klunk claimed the first victory for the black team with a time of 1:47.17.
Dustin Rhoads, Duncan Partridge, Byron Butler and Phelan posted the gold team’s first victory with a first place finish in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:30.26. Paul Gordon posted two individual first place finishes in the 200 (1:42.04) and 100 (44.39) free, which helped contribute to the gold team’s meet victory.
Sophomore Manuel Belzer, representing the black team, recorded two victories in the 1,000 and 500 free. He swam times of 9.28.35 and 4:32.49, respectively.
Iowa divers Lauren Kelba, Nicole Freeman, Abby Grilli and Joelle Christy took part in the swimming and all raced in 50 free. Kelba was the fastest diver with a time of 28.81.
The score going into the final event was 94-91 in favor of the gold. The men and women’s 200 free relay squads representing the gold recorded first place finishes and led the team to a 108-91 victory over the black team. Gigi Groya, Cubelic, Borja and Emily Hovren won the women’s heat with a time of 1:36.97, while the men’s quartet of Phelan, Brian Donatelli, Devon Meeks and Partridge posted a time of 1:23.13.
The Hawkeyes return to the water Oct. 20 when they travel to Madison, Wis. to take on the Badgers. The meet is set to begin at 5 p.m.