Despite the narrow loss, head coach Bob Hauck was pleased. "As our first dual meet, it was challenging to try and put people where we knew they could win, but things worked out well for us," Hauck said.

Assistant coach Maya Etton added, "The meet was really exciting and everyone stepped up to the challenge."

One of several highlight swims from the evening was the performance of the 200 medley relay, including Amanda Rorem '11, Kjersten Grinde '11, Aleta Kolen '11 and Jessie Gibbons '10. The young relay squad boosted St. Olaf with a momentum-grabbing win in the first event. "That was a good feeling," Hauck said.

Other star performances included swims from Jamie Fredeen '10 in the 1,000 free, 200 breaststroke and 200 individual medley, Jen Marzolf '08 in the 1,000 free and 200 fly, and Alli Beardsley '11 in the 100 and 200 backstroke and the 200 IM.

Alyssa Germeroth '10, St Olaf's nationally ranked diver, dominated in winning on both the one meter and three meter boards.

Though the Oles couldn't overcome Gustavus on the scoreboard, Hauck was still pleased with the entire team's effort. "We also saw the biggest thing you want to see as a coach, which is getting the most of ourselves and the intense competition," Hauck said. "We thrive on that and that's what you have to be able to do as a championship caliber team."

The Oles also hosted a quad meet Saturday including Hamline, Augsburg and St. Mary's, beating each school in dual points competition.

They race next at the Carthage Invite Nov. 30, while the divers compete at the Macalester Invite Saturday.

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