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Meet Summary

DECORAH, Iowa — Eric Lindquist predicted that his Saint Mary's University swimming and diving teams would surprise Luther in the teams' dual-meet season-opener Friday evening.

How right he was.

"The final scores certainly don't tell the whole story — we really challenged (Luther) in a number of events," said Lindquist, whose men dropped a 178.5-54.5 decision, while the SMU women fell 142-59. "Luther is so strong — they are very talented and very deep — so it made for a tough way to start the season.

"We had a lot of new people competing in the first collegiate meet, and I thought it went very well  — I think we surprised Luther a bit."

Danielle Braun (Cold Spring, Minn.) led the Cardinals' charge, picking up SMU's lone first-place finish, as the senior touched the wall in 1:13.47 to win the 100 breaststroke. Kasey Schultz (Cary, Ill.) chipped in a second in the1,000 freestyle (12:52.38), while Sarah Hayden (Chatfield, Minn.) added a second in the one-meter diving competition with 123.70 points.

John Fox (Winona, Minn.) picked up a pair of second-place efforts to pace the men, as the Cardinal freshman clocked a time of 2:12.87 in the 200 IM, then stopped the clock in 57.3 in the 100 butterfly. Tom Schultz (Chippewa Falls, Wis.) added a third in the 100 backstroke (1:06.88) and John Delmundo (Rocheater, Minn.) placed fourth in the 50 freestyle (23.94).

"It's always nice to get that first meet under our belts," said Lindquist. "There were quite a few bright spots, especially considering it was our first meet — and for several, their first-ever collegiate meet. Overall, I'm pleased, this was a good start."