Both the menâÄôs and womenâÄôs swimming and diving teams are set to take on Iowa at 5 p .m., Friday in the first home dual meet for both teams. The men (1-0 -0 Overall, 0-0-0 Big Ten) are coming off a huge victory against North Carolina last week, a meet the team expected to be close. As they head into FridayâÄôs meet against Iowa, the Gophers are focused on using the match-up as an opportunity to test talents they havenâÄôt had a chance to see yet. âÄúItâÄôs going to be a good chance for us to show our versatility, especially as individuals,âÄù senior Josh Griffey said. âÄúBy doing some of our off events it should make things more challenging for us.âÄù Griffey, who normally swims individual medley events, said he will be given the opportunity to try out breaststroke events he hasnâÄôt been able to compete in yet. The team is unable to take all its swimmers when it travels, Gophers head coach Dennis Dale said. A home meet will allow some of the teamâÄôs younger swimmers the opportunity to perform. âÄúThereâÄôs no question that some of our younger swimmers are going to get the chance to compete here,âÄù Dale said. âÄúItâÄôs meets like this that allow us to rotate people on our travel squad.âÄù The women are also coming off a big weekend win against the Tar Heels. As they take to the water Friday, the women (3 -0-0, 2-0-0) are also focused on testing the individual versatility of its swimmers. âÄúWe are a very deep team and weâÄôre pretty strong across the board,âÄù co-head coach Terry Nieszner said. âÄúIn this meet we will switch some people around and see their other events.âÄù One thing the team needs to focus on, Nieszner said, is finishing meets strong by staying competitive up to the last event. Sophomore Jillian Tyler said Minnesota will have to be critical of the details if the team wants a win. This includes finishing races strong, getting good touches and good starts. âÄúI think our team is very good at doing that,âÄù Tyler said. âÄúWeâÄôre excellent racers, in general.âÄù Tyler was named this weekâÄôs Big Ten Swimmer of the Week.
Unbeaten Minnesota men and women hosting Iowa for Friday meet
Published November 6, 2008
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