All the conditioning, the tapering, the shaving is done for the Albert Lea Tigers.

Now, it’s time to lay it on the line one last time, but for most of them it probably won’t be the last time.

A talented but young Albert Lea contingent heads to the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center this week with hopes of bringing home a number of medals from the state high school boys’ swimming and diving meet. Hopes might be putting it mildly. Head coach Jon Schmitz flat out expects points from his Tigers despite the fact only two of them are seniors.

“I kind of expect we could be a top-six team, for sure a top-10 team,” said Schmitz, whose Tigers qualified all three relays and six individuals in eight events. “We’d like to see all three relays medal. We have a lot of opportunities up there that we hope to take advantage of.”

All three Albert Lea relays are seeded among the top eight, though Schmitz said the best prospects are with the Big Nine record-setting 400-yard freestyle relay team of Ethan Berg, Colton Jensen, Ryan Lowe and Mitch Johnson.

“I don’t think we’ve put together our best swims with that, and we’d liked to do it up at state,” said Schmitz.

Scheduled to swim the 4×200 freestyle relay are Johnson, Jensen, Lowe and Josh Elwood, with Berg, Ben Schreiber, Ben Matheson and Jensen slated to go in the 200 medley.

Johnson, a junior, is what Schmitz called “a strong second” seed in the 200 freestyle. He’s seeded fifth in the 100 freestyle. Schreiber, a freshman, is among the top eight in the 100 breaststroke.

The Tigers’ top finish in a state meet is third, two times, before the sport was split into two classes. They were fifth in Class A in 1999 and 20th a year ago.

“We’ve got a good group,” said Schmitz. “It’s always fun up there, and we’re looking forward to a good time.”

The preliminaries are Friday, the finals Saturday, starting at noon both days.