The Iowa Lakes Swim and Dive team started their season by heading down to Fort Dodge and competing in a dual meet against the NJCAA 2021 2nd place team, Iowa Central. With 11 out of 13 of the Lakers being first-year students, this would be most of the swimmers' first-ever collegiate swim meet, and the first competition of any kind for nearly a year due to COVID. Though in their rookie season, the Lakers stepped up and swam big races, with a combine three 1st place finishes, three 2nd place finishes, and three 3rd place finishes.
On the Men's side, freshman Eduardo Martiniano led the way with a 1st place touch in the 100 freestyle, narrowly out-touching Iowa Central by 2 hundredths of a second, and swimming the 6th fastest time in program history. The feat was quickly followed up by a 1-2 finish in the Men's 100 breaststroke, where freshmen, Andres Santana swept the field en route to a 1st place finish, quickly followed by teammate Eduardo Sarmiento finishing 2nd overall.
The women's team was led by freshman Moana Wind who finished 1st in the women's 100 breaststroke while cementing herself as the 3rd fastest in school history in the event. Moana followed this performance up with a 2nd place finish in the 200 IM, moving herself into the top 10 all-time performers in the event in the Lakers program. Returning sophomore, Allison Graff used her racing experience to grab a 2nd place in the 50 freestyle, quickly followed by two 3rd place finishes in the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke.
The Lakers followed up their dual meet against Iowa Central with a self-hosted NJCAA Virtual Pentathlon. This virtual event included nearly all NJCAA swim programs in the nation as they competed virtually in strictly sprint swimming events. These events included the 50 free, 50 back, 50 breast, 50 fly, and the 100 IM. Even after racing just the weekend before, the Lakers put on quite the performance for our home crowd. With Moana Wind starting the meet off in School Record fashion setting a new mark in the women's 50 fly, quickly followed by, and just as spectacular, Eduardo Martiniano breaking the men's 50 fly school record! Moana Wind established herself this weekend as one of the top female performers in program history by following her record-breaking swim up, with another school record, swimming just under the 50 breaststroke record by 2 tenths of a second.
Keep an eye out for the Lakers swim and dive team, the program looks to be taking a new shape as they are led by new Head Coach and former Iowa Lakes athlete, Giordan Harris, in what is already shaping up to be a record-breaking season. The Lakers dive into their next competition on Oct 30th where they will head down to Midland University to compete in the Midland Triangular.