Six Albert Lea girls’ swimming events competed at the Section 1A championship finals on Friday night at Rochester Recreation Center.

Senior Emily Taylor and sophomore Jaeda Koziolek each qualified for the state meet in one  individual event, while barely missing the cut in two other events.

The first event had the team of Taylor, Koziolek, and freshmen Taya Jeffrey and Brooke Hanson competing in the 200-yard medley relay. The group finished in seventh place with a time of 1:56.23, just two seconds over the automatic qualifying time.

Taylor was next in her fist individual event. She took fourth place in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.01. The time was only .08 second shy of earning her a bid in the state meet. It was Koziolek’s turn next in the 100-yard butterfly. Again coming up fractions of a second short of a state berth, she finished in fourth place with a time of 1:00.64, just .18 seconds short.

Koziolek earned her redemption a few events later, however, with a third-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke with a state-qualifying time of 1:00.88.

Taylor grabbed the second spot at state for the Tigers just one event later in the 100-yard breaststroke. She finished in third place with a time of 1:09.08, nearly a half-second ahead of the automatic qualifying time.

In the final event of the night, the team of Jeffrey, Hanson, Koziolek and Taylor finished the 400-yard freestyle in seventh place with a time of 3:53.25.

Koziolek and Taylor will compete at the 2018 state girls’ swim meet prelims Thursday starting at noon.