Junior Kaela Marcus was ready for the Minneapolis Speedo Sectional.

“It used to be a big goal of mine to qualify for sectionals,” Marcus said. “It’s pretty fun to come back and compete like this and be able to place pretty highly.”

The event, which took place at the University’s Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center from July 19-22, saw Marcus finish with two top-three marks.

While Marcus qualified to swim at World Championship trials and the National Championships in Indianapolis, she chose to stay close to campus and take classes this summer.

“Life kind of got in the way and I ended up taking a couple of classes this summer,” Marcus said. “It was nice that we had a meet in Minneapolis so that I could still race.”

Marcus is coming into her junior year at Minnesota, and like McHugh, specializes in the breaststroke.

The Placerville, California native finished first in the preliminary round for the 200-meter breaststroke, and ended up at third place in the final round on Wednesday with a 2:36.78 time, and had a fifth-place finish at the 100-meter breaststroke on Friday.

“[I want] to be relaxed when I swim,” Marcus said. “I always swim best when I’m happy, and just having fun.”