WINONA, Minn. — Eric Lindquist and the Saint Mary's University swimming and diving teams have been through plenty of highs and lows during Lindquist's four years as the Cardinals' head coach.

But none of those highs could match the feeling Lindquist and his swimmers experienced Saturday afternoon at the SMU Invitational.

For the first time in school history, the Cardinal men took home the invitational team title, slipping past Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rival St. Thomas by two points, 575-573, while Hamline placed third with 106 points.

"What a great meet," understated Lindquist, whose men were led by the first-place efforts of Erik Oksnevad (Blaine, Minn.) and Kevin Jepsen (Downers Grove, Ill.) in the three-meter and one-meter diving, respectively. "We had so many strong performances, it's nice to see that their hard work and training is paying off."

Hard work and training had a lot to do with the Cardinals' win, but SMU would not have come out on top without a little luck.

"Before the meet, if you just went by times and what was on paper, we should not have won," Lindquist said. "However, those 'things’ that never seem to go our way — went our way.

"We've lost meets because we didn't have enough guys. We've lost meets because we didn't have any divers. We've lost meets because of disqualifications," continued Lindquist. "Today, some of those things worked against St. Thomas, not against us."

And when the opportunities presented themselves, the Cardinals were there to capitalize.

Oksnevad set a new school record in blowing away the field in the three-meter diving competition, finishing with 275.95 points. Jepsen finished second to his fellow freshman teammate in the three-meter competition, then turned the tables with a first-place effort in the one-meter diving, totaling 232.90 points, just two points more than Oksnevad.

Scott Schultz (Cary, Ill.) also enjoyed a big day for the Cardinals, winning the 400 IM (5.00.94), and adding second-place finishes in the 100 (57.08) and 200 (2:09.30) backstrokes. Logan Twedt (Hastings, Minn.) touched the wall in 18:54.34 to place second in the 1,650 freestyle, while Steve Sadorf (Chicago, Ill.) was second in the 400 IM (5:02.81) and the 100 breaststroke (2:25.99).

Overshadowed by the Cardinal men's showing, was the performance of the SMU women, who — fueled by Holly Fujii's (Elk Grove, Ill.) second-place showing in the three-meter diving (204.60) — placed sixth in the seven-team women's field.

"The women swam a great meet," Lindquist said. "And they are just as psyched about (the men's win) as the men are, because the bottom line is, this is one team — we live, die and train as one."