It isn’t like the rest of the Big Nine needed to be reminded of the strength of the Albert Lea wrestlers.

But the junior varsity Tigers did just that.

In the final tournament of the JV season, Albert Lea took eight of a possible 14 championships, capping a 20-3 regular season with an extremely strong showing at the individual tournament. Coach Wayne Busch commented that JV wrestlers performed well all season in some very tough match-ups with not only Big Nine opposition but teams from all over the state.

&uot;These boys worked hard at practice, came ready to wrestle every night and dominated their competition,&uot; said Busch.

Individual champions, with season records, included Logan Hansen (24-3), Bradon Reyerson (14-0), Jake Cibert (17-0), Eric Elleby (32-0), Brandon Mellang (21-2), Tim Frazier (21-6), Alex Paul (27-1) and Tony Malepsy (27-7). Runners-up were Issac Johnson (13-4), Nate Granahan (15-4), Kyle Granahan (15-3), Josh Wilke (15-4) and Jerrod Stadheim (24-11). Also competing were Josh Tupa, Peter Aldrich, Darrin Honeycutt, Joe Wurst and Mike Honeycutt.

Coach Mike Hansen said one of the strengths of the Albert Lea program is all of the younger wrestlers who compete in the ninth-grade league and on the junior varsity.

&uot;Many of these wrestlers have filled in on the varsity during the season and have done very well,&uot; said Busch. &uot;Our practice room is full of quality wrestlers who push one another to improve. Some of the toughest competition the varsity faces can be found in our own room.&uot;