The Austin Ellis Middle School pool is a familiar site for the Albert Lea girls’ swimming team and a place where the Tigers have enjoyed success recently. When Albert Lea travels to Austin Wednesday, the Tigers will try to find some more success at the Section 1A meet.

Albert Lea had two meets in Austin this season — a dual meet and an invitational — so there is a level of comfort there for the Tigers. Plus the team has a record of success there in big meets, like the section meet.

Last season Albert Lea finished fifth as a team at the section meet, advancing two relays and three individuals to the state meet. Three of the swimmers who were part of the state meet, Amy Horejsi, Galen Schulz and Gracie Thomas, are back for the Tigers and each will try to make a return trip to the state meet.

The top two individuals in each event and the top relay advance to the state meet while others can make the state meet by swimming faster than the state cut times, which are based on a three-year average of the 16th-fastest time at the state meet preliminaries. The meet begins at 10 a.m. for divers and 5 p.m. for swimmers Wednesday in Austin. The finals will begin Friday at 7 p.m.

“I think our history is good and I think we should feel confident about that,” said Albert Lea head coach Jon Schmitz. “I think good things are going to happen.”

The relays haven’t been as strong as they were last season for the Tigers, which is partly due to the loss of Amanda Walters, whose family moved out of state before the start of the school year. Walters was a section champion in the 100-yard freestyle and member of the two relay teams that went to state.

Albert Lea does return the remaining members of those relay teams with state meet experience, which should be a benefit for the Tigers in a big meet situation such as the section meet.

Thomas, a senior, was part of the 200-yard medley relay team that qualified for the state meet and she advanced in the 100 breaststroke. Thomas had the best seed time at last year’s event in the 100 breaststroke and finished second at the section meet with a time of 1 minute, 12.20 seconds, which happens to be one one-hundredth of a second faster than the state cut time this season.

Last year’s section meet was a strong one for sophomore Galen Schulz, who made the finals in both the 50 and 100 freestyle events. She was four tenths of a second away from the state cut time last season in the 50 freestyle and a little less than a second away from the cut time in the 100 free as she earned seventh-place finishes in both events.

Schulz is entering the section meet on the heels of an outstanding Big Nine Conference meet where she earned medals in both the 50 and 100 freestyle events and set a personal best in the 100 freestyle with a time of 56.42.

“She’s likes to race and she’s very competitive so that’s a big feather in her cap,” Schmitz said. “In big meets she does well, so I don’t worry about her.”

The team has set up its taper for the section meet this season, as opposed to last year where the team held off its taper for the state meet, which should make for a drop in the times at the section meet.

Albert Lea is coming off a positive conference meet where the team finished tied for seventh. The Tigers had just one victory on the season prior to the conference meet and the confidence gained from that meet will certainly help the team entering the section meet.

“We came off a nice Big Nine meet,” Schmitz said. “We improved there, moved up in the ranks as a team. We expect to make that next jump.”