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WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary's University swimming and diving coach Eric Lindquist was eager for his Cardinals to get back into the pool Saturday afternoon against Hamline.

“It will be good to get back at it and shake off a bit of the rust,” Lindquist had said.

To which the Cardinals replied: “Rust, what rust?”

The SMU women collected six first-place finishes — including a sweep of the diving competition by Liz Flynn (Mahtomedi, Minn.) — en route to a 112-83 win over Hamline.

The SMU men weren't quite as fortunate, as the Cardinals, despite a pair of first-place finishes from Mark Ross (Dubuque, Iowa), fell to the visiting Pipers 92-43.

“It was a good first meet back,” understated Lindquist. “The women had a solid team effort in beating a talented Hamline squad, and the men were just a little outnumbered. We were a bit short-handed due to some other commitments and that made a big difference.

“But overall, I was very pleased with the effort — it's good to be back in action.”

Flynn picked up her firsts with a 186.95 point total in the one-meter diving, while adding a score of 212.30 to winning the 3-meter.

SMU's other firsts came from Nikki Farmer (Medford, Wis.) in the 200 freestyle (2:15.17), Linda Tierney (Cloquet, Minn.) in the 200 IM (2:25.02), Abby Kratzke (Dent, Minn.) in the100 butterfly (1:06.95), and Anna Smaron (Maple Plain, Minn.) in the 100 breaststroke (1:15.44).

Farmer and Tierney added a seconds in the 100 backstroke (1:09.39) and 100 butterfly (1:08.13), respectively, while Sivan Fogel (Haifa, Isreal) and Ashling Meehan (Glenview, Ill.) also turned in second-place efforts in the 200 freestyle (2:16.88) and 50 freestyle (29.42), respectively.

Ross and Neil Heacox (San Diego, Calif.) stole the show for the Cardinal men, as Ross won both the 100 backstroke (56.82) and 200 IM (1:06.95), while Heacox collected a first in the 100 breaststroke (1:07.04) and finished second to Ross in the 200 IM (2:11.94).

The Cardinals are back in action next Saturday, hosting Carleton in a 1 p.m. dual meet at the Jul Gernes Pool.