"We have a really high level of enthusiasm surrounding our team this year," said Hauck. "A big part of that [enthusiasm] is how well the upperclassmen accept the first years, and they’ve really done that."

Hauck says there are high expectations for the team going into this season. "Our goal is to contend for a conference championship. It’s been a couple of years [since we’ve done so], but I believe we have the team this year to accomplish that. We have a nice mix of returning leadership and freshmen talent, which is a great foundation for the future."

Friday’s contest was tight early on, with Gustavus holding a slight advantage at the halfway point. But the Oles, led by superior divers and long-distance swimmers, eventually pulled away in the second half of the meet.

The divers thoroughly dominated, as they captured first and second place in both the one meter and three meter diving events.

Lorentzen won both events with scores of 231.50 and 264.95 respectively. Anderson led the Ole charge during the 500 yard freestyle, in which they secured the top three spots, with a pool record time of 4:49.94. Anderson also handily won the 1000 yard freestyle, setting another pool record with a time of 10:00.86.

"I knew what the pool records were going into the meet," said Anderson, "and I just went out to go get them. I wasn’t sure though how my body would respond to all the hard training we’ve been doing lately."

Other Ole victories were; Thomas in the 200 yard freestyle (1:47.47), Tompsett in the 200 yard butterfly (2:02.62), Kukla in the 200 yard backstroke (1:59.03), and Mark Glineburg ’06 in the 200 yard breaststroke (2:16.20). Glineburg, who qualified for nationals a year ago, is the Ole’s top returning swimmer.

"It’s great to have such an awesome freshman class," Glineburg said. "It helps take some of the pressure off of the upperclassmen."

Both Glineburg and Anderson have aspirations of reaching nationals this year.

The men’s and women’s teams also swam extremely well at the St. Thomas Relays, held on Nov. 1 at the College of St. Catherine.

St. Olaf will open up the Skoglund pool for competition this Saturday when the Oles host the Northfield Colleges Quad Classic. The action starts bright and early, kicking off at 11:00 a.m.

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