Swimmers 21st in state meet

Published 12:00 am Monday, March 4, 2002

MINNEAPOLIS – Things could have been better for the Albert Lea Tigers in the 2001 state boys’ swimming and diving meet.

Monday, March 04, 2002

MINNEAPOLIS – Things could have been better for the Albert Lea Tigers in the 2001 state boys’ swimming and diving meet.

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Coach Jon Schmitz almost guarantees things will be better in the future.

The Tigers, who had only two seniors among this year’s contingent for state, had a key swimmer suffering from the flu and finished 21st in the state meet that concluded Saturday at the University of Minnesota.

&uot;We had a swimmer with a bad bout of the flu, a big, big key to our team,,&uot; said Schmitz. &uot;We’ve got better years ahead of us.&uot;

The Tigers’ lone individual placewinner was an eighth-grader, Ben Schreiber. He was 12th in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:05.13.

Albert Lea’s top relay was the 200 freestyle, where Ethan Berg, Ben Lindeman, Ben Matheson and Mitch Johnson placed 12th. Lindeman, Berg, Colton Jensen and Johnson combined for 13th in the 400 freestyle relay. Berg, Schreiber, Justin Elwood and Ryan Lowe were 16th in the 200 medley relay.