Sports Roundup: Knights Swim/Dive Wins Season Opener

It was an exceedingly light week for the St. Michael-Albertville athletic squads as the Knights eased back into their post-Labor Day schedule with several squads not playing on the first days of school.

Girls Swimming and Diving

The STMA girls swimming and diving team won its season opener in impressive fashion with an 81-59 defeat of Melrose at home.

Winning eight of the first 11 events, the Knights swam the final race—the 400-yard freestyle relay—as an exhibition.

Claiming individual victories were: Katie Schmitz (200-yard freestyle), Kasey Roberts (200-yard individual medley, 100-yard breaststroke), Krista Erickson (1-meter diving), Carly Roberts (100-yard freestyle), Taylor Pehrson (500-yard freestyle) and Morgan Haeska (100-yard backstroke).

The STMA quartet of Haeska, Kasey Roberts, Pehrson and Maddie Gallagher won the 200-yard medley relay.

Girls Tennis

The STMA girls tennis team split its mid-week matchups, beating Becker 4-3 on Tuesday and losing 6-1 to Rogers on Thursday.

Versus Becker, Cierra Eystad, Breanna Hagerty and Kiana Eystad won in singles, while Kristina Budde and Michaela Haraldson won in doubles.

The Knights head into their weekend invitational tournament at the STMA tennis courts with a 6-3 record.

Volleyball

Monticello handed the STMA volleyball team its first loss of the year, dropping the Knights to 3-1 with a four-game defeat (22-25, 23-25, 25-22, 13-25) on Thursday. Individual statistics were not available.

Cross-Country

The STMA cross-country running teams competed in the Monticello Invitational on Thursday, with the boys finishing fifth with 121 points and the girls taking sixth with 120 points. 

Brendan Sage led the Knights boys with a third-place time of 16:50.37, followed by Alex Aman (18:34.59) in 22nd, Derek Johanson (18:39.62) in 24th, Alex Johnson (18:43.12) in 26th, Chase Cayo (18:54.52) in 31st and Austin Stepp (18:59.43) in 35th.

For the girls, Maddi Sjelin (15:51.97) and Presley Norby (15:52.35) took eighth and ninth, respectively, with Beth Hinkemeyer (16:58.87) in 26th, Tori Hamre (17:11.62) in 31st, Rylee Hanson (17:51.08) in 44th, Courtney Woodis (18:26.35) in 56th and Nicole Westrum (18:28.25) in 57th.