MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — There were no conference champions.

And only one individual school record fell by the wayside.

Yet, Saint Mary's University swimming and diving coach Eric Lindquist didn't have to try very hard to find the silver linings of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships.

"This is the biggest meet of the season, the one that we point to from the first day of practice," explained Lindquist, whose men's squad finished seventh, while the women were 10th. "The conference meet is where you want to be at your best — and no matter what the final results say, we were."

And Lindquist has the list of season-best times to prove it.

The Cardinals turned in season-best times in virtually every event — personal-bests in a handful of others — giving Lindquist plenty to smile about.

"We had some excellent, excellent swims," he said. "This is by far the toughest, most competitive meet of the season for us. There are an awful lot of great swimmers out there, and I thought we hung right in there."

Logan Twedt (Hastings, Minn.) led the Cardinals' charge, shattering the school's 1,650 record by nearly 19 seconds. The SMU freshman touched the wall in 17:52.35 to finish 11th overall.

Kyle Van Lith (Appleton, Wis.), Justin Fenger (North St. Paul, Minn.), Scott Schultz (Cary, Ill.) and Sean Gibson (Chicago, Ill.) teamed up to set a new school mark in the 200 freestyle relay (1:30.94), while Van Lith, Schultz and Gibson were joined by Ben Chastek (St. Paul, Minn.) to rewrite the 400 freestyle relay record, as they touched the wall in 3:23.33.

And that was just the beginning.

Schultz closed out his season in impressive fashion, posting career-bests of 2:02.69 in the 200 back, and a 1:52.85 in the lead-off leg of the 800 freestyle relay. Not to be outdone, sophomore Tony Gruenke (Sheboygan, Wis.) posted the fastest times of his career in 500 freestyle (5:08.59), 100 butterfly (58.78) and the 200 butterfly (2:16.10).

Chastek and Fenger, swimming in their final collegiate meets, went out with a bang, as Fenger had season-bests in all three of his events — 50 freestyle (23.58), 100 breaststroke (1:08.53) and 100 freestyle (53.52) — while Chastek's times in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.14) and the 200 breaststroke (2:22.36) were the fastest of his season.

Gibson added a lifetime-best 1:52.51 in the 200 freestyle, while Steve Sadorf (Chicago, Ill.) turned in his best times ever in the 100 breaststroke (1:02.19) and the 200 breaststroke (2:19.76). Brent Bendson (Brainerd, Minn.) was at his best in all three of his events — 50 freestyle (25.46), 100 freestyle (59.03) and 100 butterfly (1:03.30) — as was Devin Sigulinsky (Muscatine, Iowa / 24.72 in the 50 freestyle, 54.66 in the 100 freestyle, and 1:05.90).

Other season- and personal-bests came from Van Lith (50 freestyle, 22.81, 100 butterfly, 59.41; 100 freestyle, 50.93), Erikka Voelz (Pulaski, Wis. / 200 IM, 2:33.78; 100 butterfly, 1:08.89; 200 breaststroke, 2:54.31), Jennifer Moore (Richfield, Minn. / Diving, 216.70), Brian Travers (Chicago, Ill. / 500 freestyle, 5:18.73; 1,650 freestyle, 18:23.57; 100 backstroke, 1:02.19), and Becca Grube (Appleton, Wis. / 200 backstroke, 2:29.59; 50 freestyle, 27.58),

"We had a lot of our younger swimmers turn in season- and lifetime bests, which is great to see," concluded Lindquist. "Obviously, we would have liked to have finished a little higher (in the team standings), but we gave it everything we had — and that's all you can ask for."