Winter Sports Wrap: St. Michael-Albertville Swimmers Make Strides

The St. Michael-Albertville boys' swim team experienced an incredible season of growth. They have worked exceptionally hard through practices and have found a true sense of team work throughout the season.  The team has moved from seventh place to fourth in during Section 8AA meet scoring 279 points compared to 176 points at the same meet last year.

Noah Dalluge was the Knights first ever Section Champion, as he qualified for state by winning the 50 freestyle in a school record time of 22.40.

The Knights also advanced their first state  relay team in the history of this young team for the high school. The team consisted of Brandon Richardson, Kyle Kackman, Connor Schmidt, and Noah Dalluge.   

The state meet ended up as a great experience for the young STMA swimmers, as sophomore Noah Dalluge finished in 23rd place in the 50 freestyle.

"Everything needs to hit just right in this type of a meet, if you are just a little off, it can result in a big change in placing", said cooach Tom Guillou. "Noah had a great section meet winning the 50 (meter) freestyle and I know he will use the experience here at state to motivate him to come back next year and do great things."

The 200 freestyle relay team of Richardson, Kackman, Schmidt and Dalluge had a great swim dropping their section time by 0.19 seconds and moving up a few places to 20th. Three of the four swimmers had lifetime best swims which gave the Knights their fastest swim of the year and a new school record of 1:31.78. The Knights return all section scorers next year. The state meet experience that these two sophomores and two juniors gained will be valuable as they look to lead the team into the 2011-2012 season.   

The boys team is now taking some well deserved time off but will begin practicing for the summer session with the STMA SeaDevils our local USA Swimming Club.  If you or your child is interested in swimming for fun or competition, the summer session will begin April.  You can find more information about the STMA Sea Devils at www.swimstma.com or the high school programs at http://knightsh20.com