Everywhere you looked on the pool deck Monday there were smiles.

The Albert Lea girls’ swimming and diving team accomplished many things, and while winning the meet wasn’t one of them, it didn’t matter with so many other great things happening.

“It was a very close meet for us,” head coach Jon Schmitz said. “One of the closest we have had in a long time.”

The Tigers lost 88-96 at St. Peter, but made strides.

“We had more first place finishers,” Schmitz said. “A lot of girls had great improvements in their times and we had quite a few newcomers to our teams’ top 10 list.”

Schmitz attributes the improvements with the harder workouts and a more focused attention to technique.

“Having the hard practices is really starting to show in our dropped times,” captain Amy Horejsi said. “This is only the third meet and there are already major improvements in our times.”

The Tigers started out strong in the 200 medley relay, made up of Kemma Bergland, Morgan Field, Amy Horejsi and Galen Schulz, finishing second with a time of 2 minutes, 02.57 seconds. Whitney Rasmussen did her part for the Tigers bringing home a first place finish in the 200 free with a time of 2:22.05.

The Tigers captured first place in other events as well, including the 50 free, swam by Galen Schulz with a time of 26.29, the 100 butterfly, swam by Amy Horejsi with a season-best time of 1:08.57, the 100 backstroke, swam by Kemma Bergland with a season-best time of 1:12.10 and the 400 free relay, made up of Bergland, Rasmussen, Lauren Sorenson and Anna Anderson.

Karli Kriewall took top honors in diving with a season-best score of 208.05.

“Karli broke 200 points tonight which is a great feat,” assistant diving coach Jill Johnson said.

“We have been working towards this all season. She moved to third on the Tigers’ all-time diving list. I am looking forward to the rest of the season. Tonight was fantastic.”

Schmitz was equally excited

“It was an awesome night for us,” he said. “We had big production out of our younger swimmers and so many improvements. Some of the big improvers were Anna Anderson on her freestyle events, Hannah Hertling had a huge improvement in her butterfly, Mady Dahl cut around 20 seconds in her 500 free, Kemma Bergland cut time in her backstroke and Lindsey Horejsi in her breaststroke. We have some girls close to state cut times.”

The girls swimming and diving competes again at 6 p.m. Thursday as they host Mankato West.

Results:

200 Medley Relay: 2nd – Bergland, Field, A. Horejsi, Schulz (2:02.57), 4th – L. Horejsi, Hertling, Kriewall, Dahl (2:20.46), 6th – Claire Nelson, Chelsea Battle, Carly Nelson, Makenna Friehl (2:26.68)

200 Free: 1st – Rasmussen (2:22.05), 3rd – Bailey Sandon (2:25.49), 5th – Anderson (2:26.31)

200 IM: 2nd – L. Horejsi (2:29.79), 3rd – Field (2:32.94), 6th – Hertling (2:51.31)

50 Free: 1st – Schulz (26.29), 3rd – A. Horejsi (27.44), 4th – Sorenson (31.13)

Diving: 1st – Kriewall (208.05), 5th – Battle (113.15), 6th Friehl (92.65)

100 Fly: 1st – A. Horejsi (1:08.57), 3rd – Hertling (1:18.78), 6th – Carly Nelson (1:24.59)

100 Free: 2nd – Schulz (57.36), 3rd – Bergland (1:00.84), 5th Anderson (1:07.52)

500 Free: 4th – Dahl (6:30.25), 5th – Sandon (6:30.33), 6th Sorenson (7:13.87)

200 Free Relay: 2nd – Schulz, L. Horejsi, Field, A. Horejsi (1:47.14), 4th – Anderson, Hertling, Sorenson, Kriewall (1:59.52), 5th – Carly Nelson, Battle, Dahl, Sandon (2:04.23)

100 Backstroke: 1st – Bergland (1:12.10), 4th Rasmussen (1:17.04), 6th – Claire Nelson (1:20.44)

100 Breaststroke: 2nd – L. Horejsi (1:13.33), 3rd – Field (1:17.23), 6th – Battle (1:30.06)

400 Free Relay: 1st – Bergland, Rasmussen, Sorenson, Anderson (4:27.49), 4th Sandon, Claire Nelson, Carly Nelson, Dahl (4:45.87)