HUDSON, Wis. (AP) - The body of a South St. Paul woman who drowned in the St. Croix River was recovered on Sunday, and authorities said two young men who saved two other swimmers are heroes.

Forty-two year-old Lona Yvonne Donahue had been swimming with her 13-year-old daughter and her daughter's friend on Saturday. They were standing on a submerged sandbar when large waves swept them further into the river.

All three knew how to swim, but it was a windy day and the current was strong.

The St. Croix County Sheriff's Department said Matthew Finley, 19, of River Falls and Matthew Leick, 23, of Hudson, rescued the two girls, but couldn't reach Lona Donahue in time. The sheriff's department called the two young men "heroic" and said they saved the lives of the two girls.

"We weren't even out that far, it was just a little bit below my chest, and this big wave came and just pushed us out farther into the water," Elizabeth Donahue told KARE-TV. "And we thought that we were still in shallow (water), but we realized we couldn't touch. And so we started struggling, and we started floating on our backs and yelling for help."

KARE reported that Finley had taken a lifeguard certification class in high school. Finley told the station he also struggled in the waves.