St. Michael-Albertville Swimmers Set for Showdown

It seems a little early in the winter season to be thinking about championships, but can set their sights on one if they're able to keep this good thing going in the swimming pool.

The Knights are following in the proverbial wake of the girls team, which went 6-1 in dual action and won a share of the Mississippi 8 Conference championship, in large part to an upset of the Monticello Magic.

Tonight, the boys' get their shot at the Magic after opening the season 3-0 in dual action, including a head-to-head win over Elk River and a drubbing in the pool over Watertown-Mayer last week that saw them win 11 of 12 events. The other win was a 103-81 statement in the season opener, Dec. 20, vs. Orono.

Leading the way have been the Knights' relay teams, which came up big with a win in the 200 medley relay against Elk River, helping tie down that win.

Also stepping up has been the tandem of Grant Moser and Noah Dalluge (two pieces of the four-man relays, not coincidentally). Moser has been solid in the 100 fly–setting a pool record against Watertwon-Mayer in that event. He also picked up a win in the 100 meter backstroke.

Dalluge has been amazingly fast in the "fastest race on water," which is the 50-meter freestyle. He won easily against Watertown the last time out, and set a school record with a time of 22.24 vs. Elk River.

"We're defeating teams, now, that finished ahead of us last year at the end of the season, so that's a good sign for our program," said head coach Tom Guillou, who took the girls to a third place finish in Class AA.

His team will have a true test this weekend, swimming in the Section 8AA True Team meet in Elk River on Saturday. As Guillou said, the Knights have fared well against section competition thus far, but STMA's depth will have to show up to place high in this event, which is scored differently than the high school-sanctioned section meet.

That means swimmers like Cole Haeksa (500 free and new school record holder), Kyle Kackman, and MItch Cusick aslo have to step up in both relays and individual events. In the deep pool, Kyle Winkelman will have to keep up his solid dives, after he also set a school record last week.

"We've just seen a tremendous improvement across the board from all of our guys," Guillou said. "These meets have been a good way to gauge that so far."

If you're headed out tonight, the meet begins at 6 p.m. at

This weekend's True Team begins Saturday with prelim action at 10 a.m.

Notes:

-The Knights JV team is also 3-0 after toping Watertown-Mayer in convincing fashion.

-Eli Guillou, the coach's son and a provider of a few Patch videos via the St. Michael-Albertville High School broadcast class, has been solid in the 100 meter breaststroke, and is also swimming relays.

-Branden Richardson is working to become a huge contributor in middle distances. He'll be a key in the section meet, especially in the 200 free.