TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Iowa State junior Grace Swoboda shattered a school and meet record to headline a three-race breaststroke sweep on Friday (Oct. 9) and Saturday (Oct. 10). Host Florida State rode freshman Lucy Porter’s four-victory showcase and an uncontested relay sweep.
Swoboda turned in the defining performance in the 100-yard breaststroke, hitting the wall in 59.65 seconds to lower her own Iowa State program standard set a season ago. The swim solidified Swoboda’s ownership of the top five marks
in Cyclone history and preserved her standing as the only swimmer in school history to break the one-minute barrier in the event. She completed a wire-to-wire sweep of the discipline across both days of racing, winning the 50 breaststroke in 27.75 seconds before capturing the 200 breaststroke in 2:11.18.
“It’s an amazing feat and we could not be more proud of her and her hard work,” Iowa State head coach Matt Leach said in a press release.
Florida State dictated the remainder of the meet behind a relentless individual assault from Porter, who claimed four victories across the distance freestyle and individual medley programs. The Seminole freshman opened by taking the 400 IM in 4:16.82, pulled away to win the 500 freestyle in 4:53.21, and swept the shorter medleys with winning marks of 55.87 seconds in the 100 IM and 1:58.22 in the 200 IM.
The Seminoles paired Porter’s multi-event dominance with a series of sweeps in the specialty strokes. Junior Alice Velden swept the sprint backstroke events with winning times of 24.68 seconds in the 50 backstroke and 54.18 seconds in the 100 backstroke, while sophomore Pauline Zeller swept the butterfly sprints by taking the 50 butterfly in 24.05 seconds and the 100 butterfly in 53.72 seconds. Florida State added individual titles from freshman Samantha Villacis in the 200 backstroke (2:02.22), junior Maryn McDade in the 50 freestyle (22.78), freshman Emma Alsen in the 100 freestyle (49.62), and senior Mary Leigh Hardman in the 200 freestyle (1:47.68). Seminole diver Evelyn Hall took the 3-meter springboard competition with 270.75 points.
Florida State proved untouchable in the team events, sweeping all four relays contested over the weekend. Velden, Amelia Marek, McDade, and Alsen combined to win the 200 medley relay in 1:37.90, while Velden, Marek, Zeller, and McDade sprinted to victory in the 100 medley relay in 43.43 seconds. The Seminoles completed the clean sweep in the freestyle relays, as McDade, Ioana-Maria Stirbu, Hardman, and Alsen posted a winning 41.89 seconds in the 100 freestyle relay before Alsen, Stirbu, Hardman, and McDade closed the meet with a 1:31.96 victory in the 200 freestyle relay.
Iowa State countered with a milestone victory from freshman Asia Salvato, who earned her first collegiate triumph by winning the 200 butterfly in 2:03.04. The swim vaulted Salvato to ninth on Iowa State’s all-time performers list in the event.
The Cyclones relied on veteran leadership to amass team points across multiple events, led by senior Emma Kuhn taking second in the 200 IM in 2:02.89 alongside sophomore Piper Hagen in fourth (2:07.09) for a combined 12 points. Kuhn also took third in the 50 butterfly (25.12) and teamed with senior Keirlyn Mullica (fourth, 25.46) to net 11 points, while Hagen combined with junior Megan Marquardt (fourth, 2:08.29) for another 11 points in the 200 backstroke behind a third-place clocking of 2:04.32. Hagen added another third-place finish in the 200 freestyle in 1:52.58.
Iowa State’s underclassmen supplied additional depth, with sophomore Carlotta Gazzola taking third in the 500 freestyle (5:05.64) for six points and freshman Mariana Caldeira finishing fourth (5:10.74) for five points. Caldeira and freshman Claire Dobrydney posted third- (54.01) and fourth-place (54.09) touches in the 100 freestyle, while junior Kendall Schindler secured third place in both the 50 freestyle (24.17) and 50 breaststroke (29.75). The Cyclones also placed second behind Florida State in all four relay races.
“We are going to continue to work aggressively but the energy is there,” Leach said. “We are very happy with our program and ready to get back to Ames and get back to work.”
Iowa State resumes its schedule Friday and Saturday with a two-day dual meet against Illinois at the ARC Pool.
