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By Ben Ross
benjamin-d-ross@uiowa.edu
The Iowa men’s swimming and diving team (7-2, 7-1 Big Ten) finished the 2011-12 regular season on a high note this past weekend by defeating Western Illinois, 123-86, on Feb. 3.
The Hawkeyes recognized soon-to-be departing swimmers as part of its senior night. Fourth-year swimmers Ryan Phelan, Sean Swibes, Brian Tremml, Duncan Partridge, and Paul Gordon were honored before the competition, and saw extended action against the Leathernecks.
Western Illinois didn’t give Iowa much competition, but Phelan said the meet will serve as a good warmup for the Big Ten Championships later this month.
“Western Illinois is a great team,” the all-American and captain said. “They came in prepared; it’s a good trial for Big Tens.”
Phelan also said he became more emotional than he thought he would during the final dual of his Iowa tenure.
“It’s more than I expected,” he said. “It’s a nice time for me to reflect on my career, the last four years have been great. It’s really a nice conclusion.”
The quartet of Swibes, Gordon, Tremml, and Phelan commenced the meet with a win in the 400-medley relay. The seniors won with a time of 3:26.81 minutes. The team was excellent as a whole, taking first place in all 10 of the meet’s events.
Even though the departing swimmers have made a tremendous difference for the swimming program, head coach Marc Long said he thinks it may be too early to tell their real story. After all, they could potentially have their best performances during the upcoming championship season.
“It’s hard not to be emotional at this meet,” the eighth-year head coach said. “It’s great to honor them at this meet; but like I’ve been saying, their best swims are still in front of them. Be ready for fast swimming in a couple of weeks.”
The Black and Gold swimmers will have the luxury of swimming in their own pool for one of the biggest meets of the year, as the Big Ten Championships will be held in Iowa City on Feb. 22-25. There’s a good chance that some Hawkeyes will qualify for NCAAs, too, which will be in Seattle on March 22-24.
But championships weren’t the first thing on all the swimmers’ minds. Tremml said he just wanted to soak in the waning moments of his senior meet.
“It’s more than I could have hoped for,” Tremml said. “We came here four years ago and I didn’t know if we’d all make it to this point — still together, still friends. It’s sort of the the end of the road. I’ve been swimming most of my life, and I’m glad I picked Iowa to have my career here.
“I wouldn’t trade anything for these four years.”
