Tigers put two into finals of breaststroke at state
Published 12:00 am Sunday, March 5, 2006
MINNEAPOLIS &045;&160;Ben Schreiber inched closer to his goal while Josh Anderson achieved one of his during the first day of the Class A State Swimming and Diving Meet at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.
Both swimmers qualified for the finals in the breaststroke with Schreiber finishing third with a mark of 1:00.85.
He entered the state meet hoping to go under one minute for the first time in the event, and he had another chance in Saturday’s final.
Anderson qualified in the event twice before but had to settle for the consolation finals until this year when the senior swam a 1:03-flat to reach the finals by just under three tenths of a second.
Matt Hoyland of St. Thomas won the preliminary race with a record mark of 58.63 while Grand Rapids’ Peter Goeman was second.
Josh Elwood also qualified for the finals in the 100 butterfly thanks to a sixth place effort in a time of 55.53.
Elwood was able to rebound from a disappointing swim in the 50 free where he swam to a 13th place finish in 22.56.
That was good enough to make the consolation final, but Elwood had hoped to challenge for a top three spot entering state.
Schreiber accounted for the Tigers’ other top eight finish on the day.
He entered the state meet with the slowest qualifying time in the 200 individual medley, but he showed his true strength in the event finishing in eighth place with a mark of 2:06.27.
Albert Lea’s two relays came the meet with high hopes, but both missed out on a top eight finish sending them to the consolation finals.
The 200 medley team of Matt Van Fossen, Schreiber, Elwood and Anderson swam a 1:43.73 to finish in ninth missing the cutoff by just over a tenth of a second.
The same four swimmers combined to swim a 1:32.61 in the 200 freestyle relay, but that effort was only good enough to place them 12th overall.