While the Notre Dame women's swimmers get a weekend away from action, the divers will be facing some of the country's best competition at the Hawkeye Invitational.
Although the University of Iowa is hosting both swimming and diving events, the Irish are only sending five divers: seniors Jenny Chiang and Kimmie Lisiak, sophomores Allison Casareto and Molly Geraghty and freshman Emma Gabourty.
Lisiak said competing as a split squad won't adversely affect the divers this weekend.
"Competing away from the swimmers won't be to different because we don't practice with them," Lisiak said. "We do check in with each other so we know how our team is doing. It is important to support all of our teammates, swimmers and divers alike. We're one team no matter how many states we are away from each other."
No. 22 Michigan, Denver, Nebraska, Northwestern, Washington State, and Wisconsin-Milwaukee will all be sending athletes to the meet, and there will be 36 participants in the women's diving events.
"Right now Michigan is No. 1 in the country [in diving] so it will definitely be tough competition," Lisiak said.
Iowa hosted the Big Ten Championships last season, and Lisiak said the university's facilities make events held there much more enjoyable.
"I am really excited for this meet," Lisiak said. "The Hawkeyes' pool is one of the nicest and newest pools in the country, and I love their diving well."
The Irish have been working on new dives in this first portion of their season, and they are using this meet as an opportunity to practice and evaluate their progress so far.
"Our team has been working really hard [at] learning new dives, many if which will be competed this weekend," Lisiak said. "As we mature through the season, competing these new dives is a great way to practice for championship season in February."
The Irish will dive into the three-day competition at the University of Iowa's Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Pool on Friday. Meet events begin at 10 a.m. C.S.T. each day.
Contact Vicky Jacobsen at vjacobse@nd.edu
