WILLMAR — The Willmar girls swim team earned the home victory over St. Cloud Apollo, 115-63.

The Cardinals placed first in nine events and placed second in eight.

“It was a good meet for the girls; we swam some different races and I’m proud of the girls' effort,” Willmar coach Carl Shuldes said. “We were one-two-three in a lot of events and scored a lot of points.

“We knew Apollo was down and we knew we would be favored to get a win. But the girls continued to fight hard and continued to push throughout and really challenged themselves to do their best.”

Cardinals’ sophomore Shelby Reed returned to action after being held out for a short time due to shoulder pains.

Reed placed first in the 50-yard freestyle in 26.05 seconds and competed in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays.

“I thought she swam very well in her return,” Shuldes said.

Aside from the performances he saw in the pool, Shuldes said the biggest takeaway was seeing the joy his athletes had.

“It was just good to see them having fun,” he said. “They were swimming loose and they weren’t under a lot of pressure, but they were just enjoying themselves.

“They were somewhat competing against each other and themselves, but they were just really enjoying their teammates’ company in and out of the pool.”

Willmar competes in the true team section meet at 8 a.m. Saturday in Hutchinson.

“We know we're not a threat to win it but we’re going to compete our best, have fun, and see how we currently stack up amongst the other teams in our section,” Schuldes said.

Willmar 115,
St. Cloud Apollo 63

200 MEDLEY RELAY – (1) Willmar (Ava Brogren, Grace Vierhuf, Lily Thompson, Ana Hernandez) 2:11.01 … (2) Willmar (Aly Johnson, Kaelyn Swenson, Kaylee Hurley, Noelle Becker) 2:11.82.

200 FREESTYLE – (1) A. Brogren 2:08.53 ... (2) Aubrey Schueler, Will, 2:12.98

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – (1) Bethany Knopp, Apo, 2:34.93 ... (2) Cate Brogren, Will, 2:42.99

50 FREESTYLE – (1) Shelby Reed, Will, 26.05 ... (2) Becker 28.26

DIVING – (1) Kylie Portiin, Will, 188.60 … (2) Aubrey Preisler, Apo, 184.70

100 BUTTERFLY – (1) Kaylee Hurley, Will, 1:11.13 ... (2) Thompson 1:14.15

100 FREESTYLE – (1) Swenson 1:06.34 ... (2) CeCe Hernandez, Will, 1:06.49

500 FREESTYLE – (1) A. Brogren 5:51.23 ... (2) Ana Hernandez, Will, 6:28.57

200 FREESTYLE RELAY – (1) Apollo (Lucy Heringlake, Knopp, Breanna Boucher, Abigail Stevens) 1:57.77 ... (2) Apollo (Samantha Adams, Taylor Knadel, Aubrey Preisler, Paige Kunstleben) 2:12.44

100 BACKSTROKE – (1) Aly Johnson, Will, 1:15.25 ... (2) Grace Vierhuf, Will, 1:18.38

100 BREASTSTROKE – (1) Sarah Kelpe, Will, 1:29.71 ... (2) Lu Soria, Will, 1:35.97

400 FREESTYLE RELAY – (1) Apollo (Heringlake, Boucher, Knopp, Gabriella Barthel) 4:20.44 ... (2) Apollo (Madelyn Weekley, Kathryn Weitzel, Lauren O’Neal, Abigail Stevens) 4:55.73