The highlights continued to be in the high jump for the Albert Lea boys’ track and field team.

Wednesday, April 25, 2001

The highlights continued to be in the high jump for the Albert Lea boys’ track and field team.

The inexperience is still apparent elsewhere.

The Tigers took 1-2 in the high jump for the second meet in a row but finished fourth in a Big Nine quadrangular at Hammer Field Tuesday.

Owatonna won with 91.5 points. Austin had 79, Rochester Century 66.5, Albert Lea 34.

&uot;We’re running young and inexperienced, like I’ve said before,&uot; said Tigers coach Howie Melom. &uot;But we saw some times and marks improve since last Friday, and that’s the thing we want to see. We want to improve from our last meet and take it meet by meet.&uot;

Seniors Nick Cunningham and Matt Ladwig went 1-2 in the high jump, trading spots from last Friday at Rosemount when Ladwig won.

Cunningham was also second in the 110-meter high hurdles and Ladwig was fifth in the long jump. Other seconds were by Taylor Zimmerman in the 1600 and Matt Olsen in the 800.

Adam Muilenberg, Justin Kuipers, Olsen and Sean Harms took third in the 4×800 relay, as did Jake Abrego, Tyler Young, Jake Jerdee and Roberto Babastro in the 4×200.

Josh Moore was fourth in the 100 and 200.

The Tigers’ junior varsity had 56 2/3 points for fourth. Placing first for Albert Lea were Kuipers, 1600; Josh Seeger, pole vault; Mark Hickman, high jump; and Cunningham, long jump.

The Tigers travel to Mankato West next Tuesday.