Iowa Wins Hawkeye Invitational

Dec. 6, 2015

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa men’s swimming and diving team won the Hawkeye Invitational for a second straight season, finishing the three day competition with 923 points at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Natatorium.

Denver was the team runner-up with 905 points, while Incarnate Word was third with 506 points.

“We had a lot of great swims and great performances overall, getting records in the pool,” said UI head coach Marc Long. “The relay got a school record at the end, which is amazing because we suited up, we didn’t shave for the meet.

“That gave us a great seed time for the end of the year and the Big Ten Championships, and it gives us some confidence. Now we just move onto our next training faze.”

Iowa opened Sunday’s finals with Germany native freshman Kenneth Mende posting a runner-up finish in the 200 back. In finals, he posted a time of 1:45.33, and he swam a faster NCAA “B” qualifying time in the preliminary round at 1:45.21.

Senior Andrew Parker also posted an NCAA “B” qualifying time after finishing third in the 200-back, touching in at a time of 1:46.15.

Senior David Ernstsson brought the Hawkeyes some points, touching in at fourth place in the 100 free, showing a time of 44.82. Freshman Jack Smith slid into a NCAA “B” qualifying time in the 100 free, finishing ninth in 44.26.

In the 200-breast, senior Roman Trussov exploded into first, touching in at 1:56.18, beating Drury’s second place finisher by 2.79 seconds (1:58.97). Trussov’s time is an NCAA “B” cut.

Sophomore Jerzy Twaroski gave Iowa another NCAA “B” qualifying time in the 200 fly, swimming a first place finishing time of 1:45.41.

Iowa finished the night with a runne-r up finish in the 400 free relay. The quartet of senior Jackson Allen, Smith, junior Jackson Halsmer, and Ernstsson pushed to a time of 2:56.37.

The Hawkeyes finished strong on the platform, claiming the top two places. Senior Addison Boschult won the event with a score of 354.00 — an NCAA Zone mark.

Fellow senior Andrew Hull was the runner-up, finishing with a score of 308.00, the fourth-best score in program history.

The Hawkeyes will return to action Jan. 23 in a road dual at Northwestern.