Notes: Hawkeyes Travel North for Big Ten Tri-Meet

THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa women’s swimming and diving team will travel to Minneapolis on Friday and Saturday for a Big Ten Conference tri-meet against Minnesota and Northwestern. Competition will begin at 5 p.m. (CT) on Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center.

FOLLOW LIVE
• Both Friday and Saturday’s action will be streamed online via BTN+ — a paid subscription service.
• Live results for the meet will be available on hawkeyesports.com (via the schedule page) and Meet Mobile.
• Fans can also follow the Hawkeyes on Twitter/IowaSwimDive for live meet updates.

COVID-19 MEET PROTOCOLS
The University of Minnesota will require attendees at indoor events with 200 or more spectators to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or proof of a negative, third-party COVID-19 test within 72 hours of the event. This applies to all attendees age five and older and the Minnesota mask/face covering mandate also remains in effect. For more information, visit gophersports.com.

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.
• The Hawkeyes won five events in its road dual at Illinois.
• 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 got 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).

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 (306.30), 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 and is a part of four of the team’s top five relays. 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.

FIVE EVENT WINS IN CHAMPAIGN
Junior Anna Brooker won the 1,000 free with a season-best time of 10:37.15 and junior Kennedy Gilbertson won both the 100-back and 100-free in Iowa’s road Big Ten dual at Illinois. In the diving well, sophomore Sarah Ballard finished first off both the 1 and 3-meter springboards for the second and third wins of the season.

HAWKEYES SIGN 11 FOR 2022-23
Iowa signed 11 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.), Madison Stone (Free/Danville, Calif.)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
The Hawkeyes will begin their championship season after a 2 1/2 week break when they travel to Madison, Wisconsin, for the 2022 Big Ten Championships.