Notes: Illinois & Nebraska

THIS WEEK
University of Iowa swimming heads to Champaign for its meet against Illinois and Nebraska on Friday and Saturday. The meet will begin at 5 p.m. on Friday in the Activities and Recreation Center and will continue at 10 a.m. on Saturday. The Hawkeye divers will host the Illini and Cornhuskers at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center. Action will begin at 4 p.m. on Friday and 11 a.m. on Saturday.

FOLLOW ALONG
Results will be accessible via multiple platforms. Follow the official Iowa Swimming and Diving ‘X’ account for live updates of the meet. Fans can also follow along through MeetMobile, with diving results on DiveMeets. 

LAST TIME OUT
University of Iowa swimming and diving fell in a dual against UCLA, 179-101.  Junior Olivia Frantum collected a season-best time of 10:20.54 in the 1,000 free, and fellow junior Olivia Swalley tallied an individual win in the 200 IM (2:04.39). The 400 free relay team of freshman Payton Flowers, sophomores Rachel Dildine and Audrey Olen and junior Jenna Kerr ended the meet strong claiming first place in 3:23.65. All three Hawkeye divers advanced to the finals in the one-meter dive.  Senior Lainey Woodward clinched third with a total of 571.70 points. Freshman Zita Bernatsky came in sixth (542.95 points) and senior Geneva Pauly finished 12th (529.60 points). In the quad meet against UCLA, UC Santa Barbara and Utah, Iowa beat Utah (122.50-117.50) and fell to UC Santa Barbara (112-109) and UCLA (164-73). Flowers took first place in the 50 free skins race, touching the wall in 23.35. Pauly qualified for the three-meter finals and finished 14th with a total of 506.20 points. Pauly and Bernatsky closed out the Bruin Diving Invitational with their platform performances. In the preliminary round, Bernatsky placed 13th with a total of 220.60 points and Pauly finished 16th and tallying 218.75 points. 

HALFWAY HIGHLIGHTS
Payton Flowers earned B1G Freshman of the Week honors after the dual against nationally-ranked Minnesota. Flowers was the first weekly conference award winner of the season. Before Flowers, the most recent weekly conference award winners for the Hawkeyes came in December of 2024. Nora Kemp won freshman of the week and alum Annie Galvin won swimmer of the week. At the mid-point in the season, the Hawkeyes are 1-3 overall with a third-place finish at the Hawkeye Invitational. Iowa’s dual win came against UNI. The team has three more meets (Illinois/Nebraska, St. Thomas and Iowa State) before they close out the season with the Big Ten Championships in February and NCAA Zone Diving and NCAA Championships in March. 

DIVING IN
The Hawkeye divers are making big impacts through the season. In the season opener, senior Lainey Woodward took gold in both the one- and three-meter dives to start the season strong. Woodward set a personal record of 308.15 points in the three-meter. Against No. 24 Minnesota, the group collected seven season bests. Freshman Zita Bernatsky placed second on three-meter, while Woodward clinched silver from the one-meter springboard. Sophomore Stephanie Avram notched season bests in both.  At Purdue, Woodward secured bronze in the one-meter and Pauly took fifth in the three-meter. At the Hawkeye Invitational, Woodward, Bernatsky, Swanson, Avram and Pauly all earned personal records. Pauly, Avram and Bernatsky clinched all-time records in platform, while Woodward updated her best in the 1-meter. In the dual against UCLA, all three Hawkeyes advanced to the finals in the one-meter. Woodward clinched third with a total of 571.70 points. Bernatsky came in sixth (542.95 points) and Pauly finished 12th (529.60 points). 

B1G ATHLETES TO WATCH
Diver Geneva Pauly and swimmer Olivia Swalley were named the Big Ten Athletes to Watch before the 25-26 season. Pauly, a senior from Colorado, returns to the diving well after placing 10th at the 2025 NCAA Zone Diving Championships. Pauly has updated her best from the platform and now ranks third in school history with 280.55 points. From the 1-meter springboard, Pauly is 10th in school history (312.95). Swalley returns for her junior year after leading the team in four events a season ago. She is the school record holder in the 400 IM (4:10.54). Swalley is second in the 100 breast and 200 IM, while holding the fourth-fastest time in the 200 breast. In total, Swalley won 21 individual races and was a part of three winning relays during the 2024-25 season.

MAKING MARKS
The Hawkeyes have combined for sixteen top-10 program performances so far in the 2025-26 season.  

• 50 Free - Payton Flowers (22.38) - 1st all-time
• 50 Free - Rachel Dildine (22.80) - 7th all-time
• 50 Free - Ella Jean Kelly (23.06) - 10th all-time
• 100 Free - Payton Flowers (49.30) - 2nd all-time
• 100 Free - Rachel Dildine (49.81) - 4th all-time
• 100 Free - Jenna Kerr (50.00) - 6th all-time
• 200 Breast - Emilie Mosner (2:17.65) - 8th all-time
• 100 Fly - Rachel Dildine (53.96) - 6th all-time
• 100 Fly - Payton Flowers (54.20) - 8th all-time
• 200 Fly - Olivia Swalley (2:01.21) - 10th all-time
• 1-Meter - Lainey Woodward (314.65) - 9th all-time
• Platform - Geneva Pauly (280.55) - 3rd all-time
• Platform - Stephanie Avram (240.85) - 6th all-time
• Platform - Zita Bernatsky (227.35) - 9th all-time
• 200 Free Relay - Flowers, Olen, Dildine, Kelly (1:30.21) - 1st all-time
• 400 Free Relay - Flowers, Dildine, Kelly, Kerr (3:18.82) - 1st all-time

UP NEXT 
University of Iowa swimming and diving will host St. Thomas for Senior Day on Friday, January 30th. Action will begin at 5 p.m. in the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center. Iowa will then travel to Ames for the annual Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series meet on Saturday, January 31st. The meet will begin at 1 p.m. in the Beyer Hall Pool.