INVER GROVE HEIGHTS &045;&160;The Albert Lea boys’ swim team had a solid first day at the 1A section meet, Thursday.

The highlight of the day came in the first event where Matt Van Fossen, Ben Schreiber, Josh Elwood and Josh Anderson combined to take the top spot in the 200 medley relay.

The team swam away from the competition posting a preliminary time of 1:44.71 to advance to Saturday’s final.

The 200 freestyle relay team which used the same four swimmers also advanced to the finals taking fourth with a mark of 1:33.59.

Schreiber and Anderson both qualified for the finals in the 100 breaststroke taking third and sixth, respectively.

Schreiber swam a 1:03.26 while Anderson clocked in at 1:04.27.

Matt Hoyland of St. Thomas Academy set a new section record in 1:00.57 to win.

Elwood posted the third fastest time in the 50 free as the senior swam a 23.04

to advance.

He would make the quick turnaround by swimming the next event &045; the 100 butterfly &045; and qualified for the finals with a fourth place showing in 56.60.

Van Fossen advanced to the consolation finals in the event taking 10th with a mark of 58.71.

He also qualified for the finals in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:01.83 to finish in the

eighth position.

Anderson took 13th in the 200 free and Schreiber was ninth in the 200 individual medley to remain in contention in the consolation finals.

The top four finishers in each event during Saturday’s final advanced to state while anyone else in the top 16 could also go if their time is below the state cutoff.