When sophomore Emily Diehl described how the women’s swimming and diving team swam at Friday’s dual meet, only a few words came to mind.

“We swam electrifying today,” she said.

The women’s team held its own against Mankato State, while the men’s team fell short of repeating last year’s victory.

“We closed very nice on both sides,” coach Rob Welcher said.

Welcher said he was proud of the women swimmers for “putting the pieces together very well” in almost all the races.

“We didn’t think we could win, but we did,” senior Cori Severson said.

She won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.16 and pulled off a close second-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly.

Other notable performances on the women’s side came from junior Emily Viau and sophomore Amanda Kroger in the 1,000-yard freestyle. They stuck together for a 1-2 finish, respectively, in the longest race of the meet.

Sophomore Emmie Lee pushed Diehl in the 200-yard individual medley race, coming in second behind Diehl’s 2:22.45 time. Lee won the 100-yard backstroke, barely ahead of the Mankato competitor.

Welcher also pointed out strong performances in the women’s exhibition races.

As for the men, he was disappointed they “weren’t attacking races” and said “little details will be worked on in the coming weeks.”

Despite these frustrations, including three swimmers unable to compete due to absences, the men managed to pull off respectable races. These men include freshman Patrick Finley in the 500-yard freestyle and the final relay team of Finley, freshman Bill Peterson, and juniors Nick Peterson and Brian Schwartz.

Several athletes commented on the team’s strong bond, evident in the cheers of support for every swimmer in each race.

“The team unified a lot faster,” said junior Cale Schmidt-Jackson, who pulled off second-place finishes in both the 200-yard IM and the 100-yard breaststroke. Compared to last year, he said he thought the Blugolds pulled together much sooner in the season.

Even though the men weren’t quite able to pull off a win over Mankato, Welcher said it isn’t really the win-loss record that matters in swimming. In the end, he said, conference champions and national competitors earn victories based on individual times, not team scores.