ST. PAUL, Minn. — After a pair of "trial runs," the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota swimming and diving teams officially kicked off their seasons Saturday at the Hamline Invitational.
 
And first-year head coach Amber Bartholomew certainly had plenty to smile about.
 
Joe Tonda (St. Paul, Minn.)—kicking off his third collegiate season—and Lucas Rukavina (Winona, Minn.)—making his collegiate debut—each posted three top-10 finishes in leading the Cardinal men to a fourth-place finish, while Ailie Davidson (Duluth, Minn.) recorded third- and fourth-place showings in her first collegiate diving events to pace the Cardinal women to a sixth-place showing.
 
Rukavina certainly made an impression in his first meet as a Cardinal, placing third in the 100 butterfly with a time of 57.20. The Saint Mary's freshman added a fifth in the 200 freestyle (1:56.68) and a sixth in the 500 freestyle (5:29.77).
 
Tonda notched sixths in the 100 breaststroke (1:07.73) and the 200 IM (2:13.70), while adding an eighth in the 100 backstroke (1:01.81). Andrew Eggersgluss (Mound, Minn.) tallied a seventh in 1,000 freestyle (12:34.29) and P.J. Heller (St. Cloud, Minn.) and Lucas Gerads (St. Cloud, Minn.) chipped in ninth-place showings in the 500 freestyle (5:46.57) and 100 backstroke (1:01.87), respectively.
 
Davidson totaled 182.45 points in placing third in the one-meter diving competition, while adding 175.15 points en route to fourth-place finish in the three-meter. Grace VanBeest (Flossmoor, Ill.) clocked a time of 1:15.51 to place fifth in the 100 breaststroke, and added 10th-place efforts in both the 200 IM (2:30.15) and 100 butterfly (1:12.11).
 
Reese Galewski (Winona, Minn.) chipped in a fourth in the 100 butterfly (1:06.37), while Christina Weldai (London, England) was 10th in both the 50 freestyle (27.15) and the 100 backstroke (1:11.19).
 
The Cardinals are headed back to St. Paul next Saturday, taking part in the Macalester Invitational.