St. Michael-Albertville Girls' Swimming Captures True Team Section Crown, on to State

St. Michael-Albertville girls' swimming has arrived. 

In case you missed, it, the Knights have been racking up the hardware in the pool for the past three seasons, thanks in large part to a youth movement that has come of age this year with senior Kasey Roberts. 

That all culminated recently as the Knights swam by perennial power Maple Grove and captured the True Team Section Meet championship, led by Roberts' two individual titles and 23 swimmers who, in one way or another, contributed to the team's success. 

"You have to have performance from the top of the lineup to the bottom to win a True Team meet like that, and that's what we had," said head coach Tom Guillou, who has seen his roster grow to nearly 50 swimmers this season (varsity and junior varsity). 

That includes the deep end of the pool, where senior Jessie Metz is the top in Section 8AA, and should be among the top divers in the state. 

"She just missed all-state by placing ninth last season, and she's really improved this year. She keeps re-breaking her school record and just missed a pool record at the True Team. So she's aiming for it at the Section 8 meet," Guillou said. 

A bit of an explanation - the True Team format uses scores from top to bottom, while only a fraction of the team scores points at the MSHSL Section 8AA meet and Class AA State Championships. The "True" meets are often seen as strength of team, vs. the MSHSL format, which celebrates individual achievement. 

The Knights, after their True Team performance, will have a bit of a break before those two AA meets, which start Nov. 9 with sections. Guillou said that will give girls time to continue to drop time and get focused. 

"This isn't a team that's going to get distracted, really," he said. "They know their swims and their strengths. It's now about getting good starts, good turns and dropping times wherever you can. Do that, and we should be in a good place next month." 

Some would argue, standing atop the True Team 8AA podium, they're in a great position now.