Hawkeyes Head to Shamrock Invitational

Hawkeyes Head to Shamrock Invitational

Jan. 23, 2012

Complete Release

THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa women’s swimming and diving team will travel to South Bend, Ind., to compete at the Shamrock Invitational this weekend. The event will take place Friday and Saturday as a prelims/finals format.

SHAMROCK INVITATIONAL
Notre Dame hosts the Invitational and this marks Iowa’s third year attending. The Irish enter this weekend’s meet with a 4-5 overall record. Notre Dame last competed against Michigan State on Jan. 21 and beat the Spartans 218-82.

The Shamrock Invitational runs a championships style format with prelims and finals. All participating teams will be scored against one another to determine dual meet scores for each opponent.

At least season’s Shamrock Invitational the Hawkeyes fell to host Notre Dame (264-104), Northwestern (274-93), Ohio State (256-94) and Denver (205-159).

LIVE STATS
For live results from your computer or smart phone, visit: http://www.und.com/livestats/m-swim/.

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 owns 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 holds 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 against Minnesota on Nov. 4. 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 State’s Beyer Hall Pool when Iowa defeated the Cyclones, 176-124 on Dec. 9. Abbey Tuchscherer set the pool record in the 200 fly with a time of 2:01.17, to break a 20-year-old record.

Stoughton posted a pool record in the 200 IM with her time of 2:03.70. Stoughton’s time beat the previous record, which was held by 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: -2 00 Free, Becky Stoughton (1:48.52) – 1,000 Free, Becky Stoughton (9:29.44) – 1,650 Free, Becky Stoughton (16:28.18) – 400 IM, Becky Stoughton (4:16.01) – 200 Medley Relay (1:41.41) – 400 Free Relay (3:23.31)

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.

Stoughton was named the Big Ten Freshman Swimmer of the Week on Dec. 10 after recording first place finishes in the 500 and 1,000 free at No. 5 Arizona.

U.S. DIVING SELECTS RYDZE
Senior diver Veronica Rydze has been selected to represent the USA Diving National Team at the 2012 Canada Cup – Fina Grand Prix. The competition will be held on May 3-5 in Montreal.

Rydze will be competing in the 3-meter synchronized diving event alongside former Hawkeye diver Deidre Freeman. The duo finished fifth in the event at the 2012 USA Diving Winter National Championships and World Cup Trials in December, finishing with 519.30 points.

UI diving coach Bob Rydze has also been chosen as one of three coaches for the USA Diving National Team at the Canada Cup.

U.S. DIVING NATIONALS
Senior diver Veronica Rydze competed in the one-meter and three-meter springboards as well as the three-meter synchro with former Iowa All-America diver Deidre Freeman at the 2011 USA Diving Winter National Championships and World Cup Trials.

Rydze posted a seventh place finish on the 1-meter with a score of 258.38 and placed 36th on the 3-meter springboard with 213, finishing better than 38 competitors. Rydze and Freeman dove to a fifth place finish in the three-meter synchro with 519.3 points.

CANADIAN DIVING WINTER CHAMPIONSHIPS
Sophomore diver Lauren Kelba competed at the Canadian Diving Winter Championships and World Cup Trials on Dec. 15-18. Kelba performed five dives on the 3-meter springboard in the preliminaries to place 23rd overall with 231 points.

RETURNING ALL-AMERICANS
The women’s squad returns All-America diver Veronica Rydze. She earned the accolade after finishing 13th on the 1-meter board (296.35) at the NCAA Championships.

LAST EVENT
The Hawkeyes traveled to Evanston, Ill., to take on Northwestern and Harvard. The Hawkeyes defeated Harvard 153-146 but fell to Northwestern 165.5-133.5.

NEXT EVENT
The Hawkeyes will travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa on Feb. 2 to take on Northern Iowa. The meet is set to start at 6 p.m.

Iowa will return home Feb. 3 to host Western Illinois for the last home meet of the season. The meet is also the Hawkeyes last dual meet of the season and will recognize the seniors. The event is set to start at 6 p.m.

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.

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 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 on Feb. 22-25. The same site has not hosted both the men and women’s Big Ten Championship 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 of 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.