Albert Lea girls’ swim team still looking for 1st win of the season

The Albert Lea swim team had its first home meet of the season as it hosted Red Wing Thursday night. Despite some solid individual efforts, the Tigers fell to the Wingers by a final score of 98-74.

The first race of the night was the 200-yard medley relay. Albert Lea’s team of Lydia Boorsma, Emily Taylor, Jaeda Koziolek and Lauren Bizjak took second by just under 10 seconds.

The Tigers would grab their first victory of the night two races later, as Koziolek won the 200-yard individual medley by more than three seconds. They would also go on to win the next race, as Taylor took the top spot in the 50-yard freestyle by just 8/10 of a second.

After four races, Albert Lea found itself in an early 18-point deficit. The next few races saw third-place finishes by Boorsma in the 100-yard freestyle; Emma Grossman in the 500-yard freestyle; and the team of Jill Peterson, Grossman, Odelia Jensen and Lauren Bizjak in the 200-yard freestyle relay. All would help the team score slightly, but it wouldn’t be enough to dig the Tigers out of the hole. Albert Lea was now down by a score of 98-36.

Koziolek and Taylor would both pick up their second individual victories of the night in the next races. Koziolek dominated in the 100 backstroke, beating everyone by nearly five seconds. Taylor would emerge victorious in the 100 breaststroke, beating all competitors by more than three seconds.

In the final race of the evening, the team of Koziolek, Peterson, Boorsma and Taylor would take second place by five seconds in the 400 freestyle relay.

The Tigers did show promise that some events have the chance to get better in the coming weeks as the season progresses. The girl’ were all around the pool supporting and cheering on one another, no matter what the deficit on the scoreboard was.

Albert Lea falls to 0-3 on the season and will be back in competition on Sep. 21 when it hosts Northfield.