Albert Lea swimmers qualify for section finals in every event

ROCHESTER — The Albert Lea girls’ swimming team qualified for the finals in every event at the Section 1A preliminary meet Wednesday at the Rochester Recreation Center.

“Just to see the girls make the top eight for Friday was really cool,” said Lindsey Horejsi of Albert Lea. “There were a lot of good swimmers out there.”

Bailey Sandon and Horejsi led the Tigers by setting records.

Sandon broke her school record from last year in the 100-yard backstroke by knocking off almost half of a second to finish in fifth place with a time of 1:02.08.

“I was a little surprised how fast I swam, but I’ve been working hard for it this year, and I felt like today was a good day,” Sandon said. “My main goal was to break my old record, and it couldn’t have gone any better.”

Horejsi broke the section 200-yard individual medley record, but it was also broken by Abbie Dolan of Visitation, who won the event by 16 hundredths of a second. Horejsi held the old mark from 2011 with a time of 2:11.70. This year, she swam it in 2:08.10.

In the 100-yard breaststroke, Horejsi finished in 1:03.22 to beat the second-place swimmer by more than two seconds.

“I’m happy with my times,” Horejsi said. “It was nice to see most of the girls on the team drop some times as well.”

Two other Albert Lea swimmers qualified for the section finals in the 100-yard breaststroke: Ahnika Jensen took fifth in 1:09.23, which beat her seed time by 72 hundredths of a second, and Samantha Nielsen finished 43 hundredths of a second after Jensen to take eighth place.

Anna Andersen had two top-five finishes. She took second place in the 100-yard freestyle (53.05), just one hundredth of a second behind the previous meet record which was set by Dolan who swam in a different heat.

“Anna had a great meet,” Albert Lea head coach Jon Schmitz said. “Out state team is looking really solid right now.”

The Tigers also excelled in relays. Albert Lea’s team of Andersen, Ahnika Jensen, Haley Simon and Horejsi snuck past Mankato West by fewer than two seconds to win the 200-yard freestyle relay. The Tigers also took second in the 200-yard individual medley relay and the 400-yard freestyle relay.

“We were under state cuts for all of our relays, and that’s what I wanted,” Schmitz said. “We’re trying to set a state team up. That’s what this meet’s all about.”

All state qualifiers will be decided during the section finals at the same venue at 6 p.m. Friday. Preliminary times are not used when determining state qualifiers. However, the preliminary times are used to whittle the field down to 16 participants in each event.

According to the Minnesota High School League website, each event will have a championship heat with the top eight swimmers from the preliminary round. The winner and runner-up of each race will qualify for state. Swimmers who finish in third through eighth place in the finals can still qualify for state by swimming a time that is faster than the swimming standard times.

Swimmers who finished eighth through 16th in the preliminary round perform in the consolation heat. Swimmers in the consolation heat can only qualify for state if they beat the swimming standard, which is listed in the scoreboard.

The box score is below the gallery.

Section 1A preliminary round: Albert Lea at Rochester Recreation Center

200-yard medley relay: Bryn Williams, Lindsey Horejsi, Ahnika Jensen and Bailey Sandon (second, 1:51.84)

200-yard freestyle: Haley Simon (eighth, 2:03.20); Sara Rasmussen (14th, 2:06.01); Mady Dahl (21st, 2:13.71)

200-yard individual medley: Horejsi (second, 2:08.10); Sandon (fifth, 2:17.36); Jensen (eighth, 2:19.04); Samantha Nielsen (17th, 2:25.76)

50-yard freestyle: Anna Andersen (fourth, 24.93); Emily Taylor (21st, 26.58); Carly Nelson (27th, 27.13)

1-meter diving: Brianna See-Rockers (16th, 180.90); Chelsey Battle (18th, 172.05)

100-yard butterfly: Carly Nelson (14th, 1:06.82); Hannah Hertling (17th, 1:08.11)

100-yard freestyle: Andersen (second, 53.05); Simon (11th, 56.14); Emily Taylor (17th, 58.38); Williams (25th, 59.11)

500-yard freestyle: Rasmussen (ninth, 5:38.01); Dahl (18th, 5:57.99); Claire Nelson (19th, 5:59.81); Emily Wangen (30th, 6:14.53)

200-yard freestyle relay: Andersen, Jensen, Simon and Horejsi (first,1:39.42)

100-yard backstroke: Sandon (fifth, 1:02.08); Williams (13th, 1:05.43); Claire Nelson (24th, 1:10.69); Carissa Fitzlaff (28th, 1:12.69)

100-yard breaststroke: Horejsi (first, 1:03.22); Jensen (fifth, 1:09.23); Nielsen (eighth, 1:10.66); Hertling (13th, 1:13.10)

400-yard freestyle relay: Andersen, Simon, Williams and Sandon (second, 3:44.75)

 

2013-14 Class A girls’ swimming standards

If an individual or relay team finishes with a time less than the standard in the finals, the individual or relay team qualifies for the state meet.

200-yard medley relay: 1:54.72

200-yard freestyle: 2:00.29

200-yard individual medley: 2:15.87

50-yard freestyle: 25.04

100-yard butterfly: 1:01.88

100-yard freestyle: 55.15

500-yard freestyle: 5:26.36

200-yard freestyle relay: 1:42.80

100-yard backstroke: 1:02.41

100-yard breaststroke: 1:10.11