Albert Lea swim team finishes up section meet

 

ROCHESTER — Four events advanced into the second day of the Section 1A girls’ swim and dive meet for Albert Lea; three events into the championship final and one into the consolation final. 

Junior Jaeda Koziolek raced in all three of the championship races and came away with two trips to the state meet.

Koziolek kicked off the action for the Tigers in the 200-yard individual medley. After qualifying for the event with a fourth-place finish and a time of 2:19.92 on Wednesday, Koziolek shaved more than six seconds off that time and placed third with a time of 2:13.08. Despite not placing in the top two, her time beat the qualifying standard time and earned her a spot at the state meet.

Mankato West eighth grader Olivia Leonard won the event with a time of 2:11.41.

After a 20-minute break following the 50-yard freestyle, Koziolek was back in action — this time in the 100-yard butterfly. Koziolek qualified in fifth place with a time of 1:02.65. Again, she trimmed a substantial amount off her prelim time and came in third place with a time of 1:00.03, just .1 second faster than the qualifying standard time.

Red Wing junior Cecelia DeJong won the event with a time of 56.19.

In the consolation final of the 200-yard freestyle relay, the team of Koziolek, sophomores Brooke Hanson and Taya Jeffrey and eighth grader Emery Brouwers came in first place with a time of 1:45.12. The Tigers came in ninth place overall in the event. Red Wing won the race with a time of 1:39.71.

In the final race of the afternoon, the team of Hanson, Brouwers, Jeffrey and Kozioek competed in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The group finished in fourth place overall with a time of 3:52.82, missing out on a state berth.

Koziolek will begin her state meet journey Friday afternoon at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center on the campus of the University of Minnesota.