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Swalley Ranks 2nd All-Time

Sports

December 1st, 2023 by admin

IOWA CITY, Iowa – University of Iowa swimming and diving concluded day two of the Hawkeye Invitational on Friday. Through fourteen events, the Hawkeyes lead team scoring with 517 points.

Nebraska sits in second with 510 points, followed by Iowa State (352), Colorado State (345), Rutgers (242), and New Mexico State (240).

“It’s great to have a race like this for the team score so that we can continue to understand how valuable each individual and each performance throughout the course of a longer meet,” Iowa head coach Nathan Mundt said. “You have to be gritty, especially when it comes to day three. You really have to understand what you have to do to perform on the last day.”

Iowa posted four more marks that rank on Iowa’s top 10 all-time lists. The Hawkeyes kicked off the night with fifth year Kennedy Gilbertson, freshman Olivia Swalley, sophomore Scarlet Martin, and freshman Jenna Kerr combining for the fifth all-time 200 Medley Relay with a time of 7:21.21.

Swalley followed up the relay with two more top-10 performances at Iowa. She swam the third fastest 400 IM in the preliminaries and ran it back in the finals, shaving off two seconds and ranking second all-time with a time of 4:14.72. The freshman then swam the 100 breaststroke, jumping to sixth (1:01.76) in the record books.

Kerr raced in the 200 free ranking eighth overall posting a time of 1:48.86.

Iowa divers had an outstanding final performance with both three-meter divers advancing to the “A” finals. Senior Sarah Ballard posted a career best 319.55 — good for second place. Freshman Simone Beinlich also finished strong, ranking fourth with a season best of 291.80.

IOWA HEAD COACH NATHAN MUNDT ON OLIVIA SWALLEY…

“Olivia (Swalley), for a midseason meet, had some really excellent performances. She had a full day with the 400 IM and 100 breast and learned how to get better throughout the day and which is exactly what you want them to experience here at this kind of meet. It took a lot of grit. It’s great to have those strong performances throughout the day and even though they’re tired, you want them to experience this so that they can be prepared for the second half of the season.”

The Hawkeyes return to action on Saturday, Dec. 2 for the final day of the Hawkeye Invitational with preliminaries at 10 a.m. (CT) and finals at 5 p.m. (CT). The meet will be live streamed on B1G+ (subscription required).