After the qualifying heats last Wednesday, nine members of the Albert Lea swim team advanced into Friday’s championship and consolation finals at the Section 1A swim and dive meet in Rochester.

Despite no one advancing to the state meet, many young Tigers gave strong performances leaving the door open for a bright future.

The first event the Tigers qualified for was the 200-yard medley relay. Unfortunately for Albert Lea, the team of senior Garrett Everett, sophomore Jakob Malakowsky, and freshmen Pacey Brekke and Luke Wangsness were hit with a disqualification.

Junior Wiliam Taylor was up next in the 200-yard freestyle and recorded the Tigers’ best finish of the day. Taylor finished in fourth-place of the championship final with a time of 1:53.29, less than four seconds away from an automatic state bid. Winona senior Jack Herczeg won the event with a time of 1:41.18, a new meet record.

Taylor was up again just two events later in the 50-yard freestyle. Taylor won the consolation final with a time of 24.02, earning ninth place overall. Winona senior Alex Jorgenson won the event with a time of 21.76.

Garrett Everett was the only other Tiger besides Taylor to qualify as an individual. He raced in the consolation final of the 100-yard freestyle and finished in 13th place overall with a time of 53.34. Winona’s Herczeg picked up his second win of the afternoon in the event with a time of 45.14, another meet record.

The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Taylor, Malakowsky, Garrett Everett and senior GayNay Htoo came in eighth place in the event with a time of 1:45.27. Winona’s team won the relay with a time of 1:26.87.

Lastly, the 400-yard freestyle team of Taylor, Wangsness, junior Joshua Everett and freshman Lucas Everett earned an eighth-place finish with a time of 4:18.40. Winona’s team also won the event with a time of 3:11.02, a meet record.

The Tigers end their season and will lose two seniors, Garrett Evertt and Htoo, to graduation in the spring.