Hawkeyes Head to Arizona

Hawkeyes Head to Arizona

Jan. 3, 2012

Complete Release in PDF Format

THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa women’s swimming and diving team will travel to Tucson, Ariz., for its winter training trip and competition. The Hawkeyes will take on Arizona, Northern Arizona, New Mexico and Oregon State on Friday beginning at 2 p.m. (CT).

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Arizona has a 5-0 dual meet record and is ranked No. 5 in the CSCAA poll. The Wildcats’ Eric Hansen was named the new head coach of Arizona swimming and diving in April of 2011. He took over for Hall of Fame coach Frank Busch, who is now the USA Swimming’s National Team Director.

Northern Arizona comes into Friday’s meet with a 5-2 dual meet record and is coming off a second place finish at the UNLV Winter Invitational. Andy Johns is in his 16th season as the Lumberjacks head coach. In the 2010-11 season he led the Lumberjack squad to a third place finish at the WAC Championships.

New Mexico has a 2-2 dual meet record and has swam in three invitationals this season. Tracy Ljone is in her sixth season as the Lobos head coach. During her time at New Mexico 25 school records have been broken, 11 members of her team named have earned first team All-MWC and 13 have been named second team All-MWC selections.

Oregon State has a dual meet record of 1-3. Larry Liebowitz has been the head coach of the Beavers for eight seasons. Liebowitz has guided the Beavers to PAC-10 Conference seventh-place finishes five out of his seven years, and OSU earned its highest ever finish in the NCAA Championships – finishing 20th during the 2003-04 campaign. The Beavers finished 21st and 23rd at the NCAA Championships in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

FOLLOW THE HAWKEYES
Become fans of the official Iowa swimming and diving page by going to http://www.facebook.com/IowaSwimmingandDiving to follow the Hawkeyes on Facebook. Fans can also follow the black and gold on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/IowaHawkeyeSwim.

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT
Iowa freshman Becky Stoughton set school and pool records in the 1,000 free (9:39.44), 500 free (4:43.79) and 400 IM (4:16.01). She also set the school record in the 200 free (1:48.52). All of her times surpass the NCAA provisional cut times.

She crushed her previous school record time in the 1,000 free by over 11 seconds with a time of 9:39.44. She bested her previous record (9:51.32), which she set against Wisconsin on Oct. 20.

Stoughton broke her previous school and pool record in the 400 IM and 500 free at the Iowa Hawkeye Invitational on Dec. 2-4

The Peoria, Ill., native also set the pool record in the 1,000 free at the University of Wisconsin’s Natatorium with a time of 9:51.32. Combining pool and school records, Stoughton has set 16 records so far this season.

The Hawkeyes set pool records in the 200 fly, 200 IM and one-meter springboard at Iowa States Beyer Hall Pool when Iowa faced the Cyclones.

Abbey Tuchscherer set the pool record in the 200 fly with a time of 2:01.17, which a 20-year-old record.

Stoughon posted a pool record in the 200 IM with her time of 2:03.70. Stoughton’s time beat the previous record, which was set my former Iowa swimmer Katarina Tour (2:03.74) in 2009.

Senior diver Veronica Rydze complied a collegiate best score of 312.90 on the one-meter springboard to set a pool record.

NCAA PROVISIONAL CUT TIMES
The Hawkeyes currently have NCAA `B’ provisional qualifying cuts in six events this season:

WEEKLY HONORS
Becky Stoughton was selected as the Division I National Swimmer of the Week by collegeswimming.com on Nov. 8. She was also named the Big Ten Conference Swimmer of the Week on Nov. 8 for her same efforts against Minnesota.

Senior Veronica Rydze was named the Big Ten Diver of the Week on Dec. 6 after claiming the 1 and 3-meter diving titles at the Hawkeye Invitational.

Sophomore Abbey Tuchscherer was named Big Ten Co-Swimmer of the week on Dec. 13 for her efforts against in-state rival Iowa State.

RETURNING ALL-AMERICANS
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.

LAST EVENT
The Hawkeyes won 11-of-16 events and set three pool records inside the Beyer Hall Pool to top in-state rival Iowa State, 176-124, in the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series.

NEXT EVENT
The Hawkeyes return home Jan.14 to host Illinois. The meet is set to start at 11 a.m.

CAMPUS WELLNESS AND RECREATION 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.

BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS
The University of Iowa hosts the 2012 Big Ten Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships on Feb. 15-18 at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Pool in Iowa City, Iowa.

Visit the official Championship page at hawkeyesports.com/sports/w-swim for information on tickets, travel, parking, results, schedule of events and more.

Iowa previously hosted the 1985 Big Ten Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships at the UI Field House.

Iowa will also be host to the 2012 Men’s Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships Feb. 22-25. The same site has not hosted both men and women’s Big Ten meets since 1987 and 1988 when they were held in Indianapolis

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.

IOWA SWIMMING HISTORY & TRADITION
Iowa was one of the first schools in the nation to compete on the 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.