Advance many swimmers, 1 diver to Section 1A final

AUSTIN — The Albert Lea girls’ swimming and diving team had high expectations going into the Section 1A preliminary meet Wednesday, including advancing as many girls as they could to Friday’s finals.

To advance to the Section 1A final meet, the swimmer or diver must place in the top 16 of their event. The girls accomplished their objective, sending all three relay teams, seven individual swimmers and one diver.

The meet started out well for the Tigers with the 200-yard medley relay team of Galen Schulz, Morgan Field, Amy Horejsi and Lindsey Horejsi finishing in sixth place with a time of 1 minute, 58.07 seconds.

Things really got going for the Tigers in the 200-yard individual medley. Lindsey Horejsi finished in fourth place with a season-best time of 2:20.53. Morgan Field ended in 13th place with a time of 2:31.12, and Bailey Sandon advanced to the finals with a 16th place finish and a season-best time of 2:33.67.

Schulz and Amy Horejsi advanced in the 50-yard free finishing seventh and 11th, respectively.

Karli Kriewall will continue on to finals in diving, and she is currently in second place.

Amy Horejsi grabbed a fifth place finish in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:05.61, and Carly Nelson finished in 16th with a time of 1:12.40.

Schulz had her best showing of the night in the 100-yard free, bringing home a fifth place finish with a time of 56.96 seconds. Anna Anderson advanced to finals with her 16th place finish with a time of 1:00.54.

The 200-yard free relay team of Schulz, Field, Lindsey Horejsi and Amy Horejsi finished in sixth place with a time of 1:44.96.

In the 100-yard backstroke, Sandon had another season-best swim to finish in 11th place with a time of 1:10.47.

The 100-yard breaststroke continues to be the strongest event for the Tigers. Lindsey Horejsi finished in first place with another season-best time of 1:11.00. Field was right behind Horejsi in second place with a time of 1:11.25.

The 400-yard free relay team of Anderson, Whitney Rasmussen, Sandon and Hannah Hertling finished in seventh place with a time of 4:08.10.

The Section 1A finals meet takes place Friday in Austin.