The Minnewaska-Morris Gators swimming and diving team is set to get its season underway Friday, Aug. 25 at the Willmar Invitational.

And, after having no meets at Minnewaska Area High School last season due to work on the pool, the Gators will have three meets at home this year, beginning with a meet against Montevideo, Thursday, Aug. 31.

The other home meets are set for Tuesday, Sept. 5 (vs. Albany) and Tuesday, Sept. 19 (vs. Sauk Centre).

The Gators went 5-3 in dual meets last season and 3-2 in the conference before going on to place sixth of nine teams at the section true-team meet, third of five teams at the WCC Meet and sixth of nine schools at the Section 6A Meet.

Last year’s wins came over Litchfield, Montevideo twice, Holdingford and Perham-Dent.

McKenzie Luetmer highlighted last year’s results by earning a berth at the state meet in the 50-yard freestyle race.

Luetmer, a senior, placed second at the Section 6A Meet to earn the state berth. During the 50-yard freestyle Class A state prelims, Thursday, Luetmer raced to a time of 25.86, which fell short of qualifying for the finals.

Melrose Area, the Section 6A champion, was eighth overall at the state Class A meet with 86 points, while Alexandria was 18th with 36 and Sauk Centre 24th with 24 points.

Melrose’ Hallie Drossel won the state title in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:03.73 to win by three-hundredth of a second.

At the true-team meet last fall, the Gators did not win any individual titles, but at the WCC Meet, Luetmer won the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle races, while Clare Barnstuble earned first in the diving competition.

The Gators lost eight seniors to graduation from last year’s team — Makarian Schott from Morris Area High School, and Miranda Longtin, McKenzie Luetmer, Serena Mellgren, Leslie Murken, Hannah Poshek, Avery Svec and Makena Thoen from Minnewaska Area High School.

•  Last year, during season-ending awards, earning the Most Improved Swimmer awards were Lyla Stadtherr, Sage Barnstuble, Phemie Oeltjen and Isabelle Emmert, while earning the Most Improved Diver honor was Ella Roering.

Chosen for the Hardest Worker Swimmer award were Becca Femrite and Gabby Schneider, while selected for the Hardest Worker Diver award was Makarian Schott.

Earning the Highest Point Scorer awards were McKenzie Luetmer and Clare Barnstuble, and earning the Golden Guppy(s) award were Ella Larson and Aranza Guerrero Lara.

In addition, earning the High Achievements award were Soffia Stadtherr (who made section cuts in all swimming individual events last season), Clare Barnstuble (who broke the 6-dive and 11-dive records last year) and McKenzie Luetmer (state qualifier).