The Albert Lea Tigers are not without confidence entering the 2001 Section 1AAA wrestling team tournament.

Tuesday, February 13, 2001

The Albert Lea Tigers are not without confidence entering the 2001 Section 1AAA wrestling team tournament.

But they know it won’t be easy.

According to Albert Lea coach Larry Goodnature, almost all of the 10 squads in the single-elimination tournament have the chance of beating the other on any given night. Only one of them, however, is seeded above Albert Lea.

The Tigers drew the No. 2 seed – behind perennial power Owatonna – and will open section competition at home Thursday night. First, they’ll watch seventh-seeded Austin battle 10th-seeded Rochester Century at 6 p.m. at Albert Lea High School. The winner will face the Tigers at approximately 7:45.

If the Tigers win Thursday, they’ll wrestle in Saturday afternoon’s semifinals at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester. The finals are Saturday night.

According to Goodnature, Owatonna was a clear No. 1 at the seeding meeting. The Huskies are 39-4 and ranked No. 5 in Class AAA. They beat Albert Lea 34-32 early in the season.

The Tigers, 14-4, got the No. 2 seed ahead of Lakeville despite losing 36-30 to Lakeville n the second meet of the season. The Tigers forfeited two bouts in that meet and, according to Goodnature, have improved enough since then to earn the No. 2 seed.

Lakeville is No. 3, followed by Northfield, Winona, Faribault, Austin, Rochester Mayo, Farmington, Rochester Century and Rochester John Marshall.

The winner of the tournament advances to state.

Though the Tigers came close to Owatonna and have wrestled the Huskies tough at section in the past, Goodnature warned that you can’t look past anyone.

&uot;Austin, as well as all the other teams in the section, are all tough,&uot; said Goodnature. &uot;It’s a whole new season now.&uot;

The Tigers are, according to Goodnature, as ready for it as they’re going to get.

&uot;We’ve got a great attitude,&uot; said the coach. &uot;We’ve been wrestling well the latter part of the year, our lineup is set, we’re healthy. We’re ready.&uot;

Here’s the Tigers’ probable section lineup, by weight, with season records: Josh Hansen, 103 pounds, 20-5; Brandon Klukow, 112, 18-9; Neal Underdahl, 119, 8-12; Adam Elseth, 125, 17-5; Adam Morreim, 135, 15-9; Alan Attig, 140, 18-6; Justin Krueger, 145, 19-8; Wyatt Reyerson, 152, 24-0; Eric Page, 160, 11-7; Andy Davis, 171, 9-8; Isaac Walton, 189, 7-14; Adam Lares, heavyweight, 13-9.