WINONA, Minn. - Eric Lindquist looked at last Saturday's Saint Mary's University Invitational in a couple of different ways:

On the one hand, it was the final competition before a nearly month-long Christmas break - and Lindquist wanted his swimming and diving teams to head into the break on a high note.

On the other, it was a chance for the Cardinals to show off in front of their home crowd - something SMU didn't get to do much of.

And on both hands, the Cardinals did not disappoint as SMU picked up one school record, just missed on two others and gave the home fans plenty to cheer about at the Jul Gernes Pool.

"I'm very pleased with our performance - other than the technical problems, this was a near-perfect meet," said Lindquist, noting that computer problems made timing the meet a bit difficult, but, thanks to the work of Jennifer Phillips (who entered all the results by hand), it proved to be only a small glitch in the meet. "We had some outstanding times - everything just seemed to tall into place."

Just in time for the Cardinals to break for a month.

"It's a tough time of year," said Lindquist, whose team is now off until Jan. 15, when they travel to St. Catherine for a dual meet. "Fortunately, we are going to spend seven days in Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) training after Christmas, and that will help put us right back on track heading into (the St. Catherine dual)."

Danielle Braun (Cold Spring, Minn.) proved to be the best of the best for the Cardinals, setting a school record in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:41.29.

But that was just the tip of the iceberg for the Cardinals, who also got two near record-setting performances from Sean Gibson (Chicago, Ill.) in the 200 freestyle, where he placed first in 1:51.46 and Lindsay DeLaRosby (Two Harbors, Minn.) in the 50 freestyle, where she earned first-place honors with a time of 25.88.

"Danielle swam a great race," Lindquist said. "And to see Linday and Sean turn in such solid times is great to see.

"It's tough to see them go (away for the holidays), but it's a great way for them to leave - they put on a great show in front of their home fans, and that's a great way to end the first half of the season."