Albert Lea’s Horejsi competes at same meet as Olympic gold medalist

Along with some of the top swimmers in the world, Albert Lea’s Lindsey Horejsi competed Saturday and Monday at the Phillips 66 National Championships in San Antonio, Texas.

“The facility was amazing, and the atmosphere was awesome,” Horejsi said. “The pool was second best to the (Olympic) trials.”

Horejsi earned two top-20 finishes in the same pool that Michael Phelps — the winner of eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics — won the 200-meter individual medley and 100 and 200 butterfly.

To limit distractions, Horejsi said she used the same mindset she uses during high school meets.

“I wanted to do the best that I could and not worry about anyone else,” she said.

Horejsi took 14th place in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:08.99 and 19th in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:29.65.

In the 200 breaststroke, Horejsi entered with a seed time of 2:32.33, and swam a 2:31.77 in prelims before shaving 2.68 seconds off her seed time in finals.

In the 100 breaststroke, her prelim time was 0.05 seconds slower than her seed time, but she cut 0.43 seconds from her prelim time in finals.

Horejsi, a soon-to-be senior at Albert Lea High School, was one of two Mantas Swim Club entrants at the meet. Danielle Nack, a Mankato West High School graduate and soon-to-be-sophomore at the University of Minnesota, also competed for the Mantas. Nack took 37th in the 100 butterfly prelims with a time of 1:00.79 and 22nd in the 200-meter butterfly with a time of 2:13.98.

“It was fun to cheer each other on,” Horejsi said.

Last fall, Horejsi was a Class A state champion in three events and led the Tigers to a third-place team finish.

Albert Lea’s first meet of the season will be at 4 p.m. Aug. 28 at Austin. The Tigers’ home opener will be against Winona at 6 p.m. Sept. 3.

The Big Nine Conference meet will be at 2 p.m. Oct. 31 at Rochester Recreation Center.