Notes: Hawkeyes Head to Champaign for Dual with Illinois

THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa women’s swimming and diving team will travel to Champaign, Illinois, on Saturday for a Big Ten Conference dual against Illinois. Competition will begin at 11 a.m. (CT) in ARC Pool.

FOLLOW LIVE
• Live results for the meet at Illinois will be available on Meet Mobile.
• Fans can also follow the Hawkeyes on Twitter/IowaSwimDive for live meet updates.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
• Nathan Mundt is in his first season as head coach after spending six years as head coach of the Iowa Flyers Club. Mundt previously was an assistant coach for the Hawkeyes from 2008-16.
• Saturday is Iowa’s first competition in more than a month (Dec. 10 at Iowa State). The Hawkeyes spent a week in Miami during break for its winter training trip.
• Iowa returns 10 letterwinners from last season’s squad, including senior diver Sam Tamborski, who was a 2021 NCAA qualifier.

TAMBORSKI CONTINUES TO DELIVER
Senior Sam Tamborski is off to a strong start to the 2021-22 season, winning five of the seven diving events in her first four duals. She posted a season-high score off the 3-meter springboard during her first-place finish in Ames (338.10).

WELCOME BACK ANNA
The Hawkeyes welcomed back Anna Pfeiffer to the team prior to the training trip to Miami and she will be eligible to compete during the second half of the season. The Peosta, Iowa, native transferred to Missouri State following her freshman season before electing to return to Iowa City.
Last season Pfeiffer swam collegiate-bests in the 50 free (23.99), 100 free (52.38), 200 free (1:54.14), 100 back (57.12) and 200 back (2:02.53). Her bests in 200 free, 100 back and 200 back all came at the Big Ten Championships.

NCAA ZONE QUALIFIERS
Three Hawkeyes have posted NCAA Zone Diving standards this season. Senior Sam Tamborski and sophomore Sarah Ballard have posted qualifying scores off both the 1-meter and 3-meter, while freshman Makayla Hughbanks has a Zone mark off the 1-meter.
1-Meter: Ballard (304.30), Tamborski (287.32), Hughbanks (277.20)
3-Meter: Tamborski (338.10), Ballard (314.55)

GILBERTSON LEADS CHARGE
Junior Kennedy Gilbertson is leading the team in four individual events early in the 2021-22 season. The Wisconsin native has the top times in the 100 free (51.28), 200 free (1:52.88), 100 back (56.61), and 100 fly (55.93) and is a part of the top 200-medley (1:43.81), 400-medley (3:55.16), 200-free (1:37.45), and 800-free (7:48.14) relays.
• Junior Aleksandra Olesiak is tops on the team in the 100 breast (1:03.59), 200 breast (2:20.80) and 200 IM (2:07.19), while also being on the top five relays.

MORE SEASON-BESTS IN AMES
Six Hawkeyes recorded season-best times in a total of seven individual events during the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series dual against Iowa State on Dec. 10. Junior Kennedy Gilbertson found her season-best in the 100 free (51.28), 200 free (1:52.88), and 100 fly (55.93). Sophomore Maddie Black swam her best 50 free of the season (23.64), just .22 seconds behind her career-best time at last year’s Big Ten Championships.

HAWKEYES SIGN 10 FOR 2022-23
Iowa signed 10 student-athletes to National Letters of Intent during the early signing period in November. The class includes Dani Anglin (Diving, Boynton Beach, Fla.), Olivia Asay (Fly/Back/Free, Downers Grove, Ill.), Alyssa Konz (Diving, Victoria, Minn.), Sabina Kupcova (Free/IM, Levice, Slovakia), Scarlet Martin (Fly/Back/Free, Coralville, Iowa), Sila, Ozkazanc (Free/Back, Ankara, Turkey), Geneva Pauly (diving, Arvada, Colo.), Leslie Wendel (Free/Fly, Winnetka, Ill.), (Emily Wooden (Free/Fly, Chino Hills, Calif.), and Lainey Woodward (Diving, Omaha, Neb.).

RETURNING NCAA QUALIFIER
Senior Sam Tamborski is a three-time NCAA qualifier off the 3-meter springboard. The Colorado native finished ninth in the event at the 2021 Big Ten Championships and she was seventh in 2020.
• Tamborski enters her senior season with the fifth-best 3-meter score in school history at 355.05.

HAWKEYE COACHING STAFF
• Nathan Mundt returns for his second stint with the Hawkeyes and he becomes the seventh head coach in program history. The Indiana native served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator from 2008-16 where he coached 33 All-Americans and 42 NCAA qualifiers and helped the Hawkeyes to six top 40 NCAA finishes and 115 school records.
• Diving coach Todd Waikel enters his ninth season with the program. Waikel has coached five All-Americans during his tenure in Iowa City and 15 NCAA Championships qualifiers.
• Mona Groteguth-Garcia completes the Hawkeye coaching staff, coming to Iowa City following a two-year stint at TCU. She helped the Horned Frogs to back-to-back third-place Big 12 Conference finishes — the best for the program since 2012-13. Groteguth-Garcia also coached at the University of Indianapolis from 2017-19 and she swam collegiately at North Texas.

UP NEXT
Following a week off, the Hawkeyes will return to action Jan. 28-29, when they travel to Minneapolis for a Big Ten tri-meet with Minnesota and Northwestern.