By Micah Bader

Lindsey Horejsi broke a national record for the 100-yard breaststroke that stood for 13 years. Six hours later, another swimmer broke it.

After earning a pair of state titles in November, the Albert Lea swimmer who competes for the Atlantis Swimming Federation team swam Friday at the Junior National Swimming Meet in Greensboro, N.C.

“It was awesome to watch,” Vininski said after the preliminary race. “She swam a great race today, being a body-length ahead of everyone else.”

Horejsi’s preliminary time of 59.75 gave her the meet record, the national record for her age group and the No. 1 seed headed into finals.

The previous meet record was set by Mary Olson of Sun Devil Aquatics in 2010 with a time of 59.81 seconds. The previous national record for the 15 to 16 age group was set by Megan Quann at 59.80 seconds in 2000. Quann, also known by her unmarried name, Megan Jendrick, earned two gold medals in the 2000 Olympics.

Albert Lea girls’ swimming head coach Jon Schmitz said Horejsi’s work in the offseason and as part of the Tigers swimming team helped her get ready for nationals.

“Our goal was to work Lindsey through the state meet and prepare her for this,” he said.

Schmitz stayed in Minnesota to coach the Albert Lea boys’ swimming team, a group that hosted its 13-team invitational Saturday. However, he was able to catch Horejsi’s race through the live feed at www.usaswimming.org.

“She dominated it from the get-go,” Schmitz said. “She looked great. She’s just fast.”

Horejsi said her goal was to break the 1-minute barrier, and she was happy with the result.

In the 100-meter breaststroke finals, also on Friday, Horejsi took second place. Her time was 1:00.21, and Lillia King of the Newburgh Sea Creatures team out of Indiana won the event in 59.67. That edged Horejsi’s prelim time by 0.14 seconds.

“The record stands for 13 years, and then the girls break it twice within six hours,” Atlantis Swimming Federation head coach Mark Vininski said, referring to the national record. “Incredible.”

Horejsi’s time of 59.75 seconds stands as a record for a Minnesota swimmer in her age group.

On Saturday, Horejsi also competed in the 200-yard breaststroke. Her goal was to finish in the top eight with a time of 2 minutes and nine seconds, she said. Look for the results in Monday’s Tribune.