From the upsets to the near-misses to the state tournaments plenty of action shaped the sports landscape during 2009. Former Albert Lea native Ben Woodside gained national exposure when he led North Dakota State University to its first NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Three teams came up one win shy of a state tournament appearance and the Albert Lea wrestlers finished second in the state once again. Here is the top 10 sports stories of the year.

1. Ben Woodside takes NDSU to the Big Dance

Former Albert Lea High School basketball standout Ben Woodside made his senior season at North Dakota State University a memorable one. From hitting the game-winning shot to put the Bison in the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history to scoring 60 points against Stephen F. Austin to dropping 37 on Kansas in the NCAA tournament in Minneapolis, it was good to be Woodside. He tied a NCAA record with most free throws made in one game. Pete Maravich held the record 30 before Woodside tied it. The 60 points he scored were the most at the time in the NCAA until Utah Valley’s Ryan Toolson scored 63 in January. His 37 points were an NCAA tournament high.

He has his own Wikipedia page and spent time on the Timberwolves Summer League team in Las Vegas. Woodside drew attention from NBA teams, but went undrafted. He accepted a deal with Gravelines-Dunkerque, a French professional team located in northern France on the English Channel.

He drew national attention, getting a highlight clip on Sportscenter, impressed scores of people with his performance against the Jayhawks and made people grab maps to find Albert Lea.

Nowadays, he plays for a team in France and links to his blog can be found at the Tribune’s Web site.

2. Nystrom wins 600th game

Long-time Albert Lea boys’ hockey head coach Roy Nystrom etched his name into the record books in February when he won his 600th career game. The Tigers beat John Marshall 6-2 in Rochester.

Only Bill Belisle, of Woonsocket Mt. St. Charles Academy in Rhode Island with 806 career wins, Edward Burns, of Arlington, Mass. with 695 career wins, and Willard Ikola, of Edina High School with 616, have more wins than Nystrom, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations record book.

Nystrom spent seven years coaching Grand Forks Central where he won three state championships and Coach of the Year honors for the 1972-73 season prior to accepting the Albert Lea head coaching position.

One week later, Nystrom’s former Gophers teammate, Lorne Grosso, won his 600th game and it came against Nystrom and the Tigers.

Nystrom has led Albert Lea to two conference championships, three state appearances, and five 20-win season.

3. Albert Lea wrestling takes 2nd place again

The Albert Lea wrestling team won its 25th Big Nine title, won the section title for the fourth straight year, but the only thing the Tigers couldn’t seem to do was find a way to beat Apple Valley in the finals. The state championship dual wasn’t much of a surprise, the Eagles ranked third in the nation at the time and had five individual state champions in their lineup, and very nearly had more than that.

The Tigers had a successful season where they won nearly all duals, set a school record 10 wrestlers to the individual tournament and had four place winners.

Cory Hansen finished second for the second consecutive year, his older brother Cody placed third after dropping a 3-1 match to St. Francis’ Trent Herold in the quarterfinals. Herold went on to finish second at 125. Logan Kortan became Albert Lea’s first five-time state place winner. Kortan also set the school record for career victories with 182. Cody Hansen also bested the record and finished with 175 for his career. Dalton Westerlund placed fourth in his first state tournament at 119 as a freshman.

4. Haley Mathews places 2nd and 3rd at Iowa state track, field meet

Lake Mills sprinter Haley Mathews made an impression at her first state track meet by finishing second in the 200-meter dash and third in the 100-meter dash. She set a career best in both events, finishing the 200 in a time of 25.76. Mathews finished behind Stephanie Nordyke of Lineville-Clio, who tied a state record with a time of 24.99. Krull ran a 12.94.

5. Ciara Christenson places 3rd at Minn. state track and field meet

Christenson entered the 100-meter hurdles with a preliminary time of 15.98 and made the finals by three one-hundredths of a second. Christenson, a four-time state entrant made up missing the state meet in 2007 as a sophomore. Christenson finished her outstanding prep career as a seven-time medal winner and holder of the section record in the 300-meter hurdles.

6. NRHEG’s Colton Schlaak takes 3rd at state wrestling meet, USC’s A.J. Dreyer takes 6th

NRHEG’s Colton Schlaak made his way to his fourth state wrestling tournament and he turned in his best performance by coming up with a third place finish. Schlaak earned a narrow 4-3 decision in his first round match and lost his second 4-2, but got new life in wrestlebacks to make his way to the third place match. After a three point decision against Nathan Wiese, he moved on to face Nate King and earned a 9-7 victory to advance to the third place match. Schlaak fought off Aaron Zimmer for a 5-2 victory.

United South Central’s A.J. Dreyer earned his first trip to the state tournament after a second place finish at the section meet and at state he faced one of the toughest routes to place but did so.

Dreyer met up with Lake Crystal-Wellcome-Memorial’s Tyler McMonagle in the first round and earned a 3-0 decision to advance, but in the second round Brad Kneisl, the No. 1-ranked wrestler in Class A at 215, pinned Dreyer in the first round. Dreyer got a 10-5 decision over Long Prairie-Grey Eagle’s Brian Reece and a fall Crookston’s Brody Davidson to have a shot at fifth place. Once again Dreyer met Kneisl and once again Kneisl pinned Dreyer in the first period.

7. Chrissy Monson, Ethan Marquardt medal at state track meet

Albert Lea’s Chrissy Monson and Ethan Marquardt each made their way to the state cross country meet and once again at the state track and field meet in the spring to cement their place as two of the top runners in the area. Both went on to seventh-place finishes in the 3,200 meters at state in their first trip. Marquardt went on to reach the podium in the 1,600 with a ninth place finish to conclude a fantastic senior season and career. Monson placed 13th in the 3,200 and went on to impress during the fall with the cross country team. Monson won the Big Nine title, finished second at the section meet for the second consecutive year and placed 12th at the state cross country meet. Monson won six meets during the fall as a freshman.

8. Albert Lea girls’ hockey reaches section final

Despite a sub-.500 record the Albert Lea girls’ hockey team got on a roll late in the season and rode the momentum of a five-game winning streak to a trip to the section championship game against Red Wing. The Tigers made their first trip to the title game since 2003 by knocking off rival Austin 4-0 and upsetting the No. 1 seed Northfield 4-3. In the end the Wingers and standout defenseman Rose Alleva proved too much for Albert Lea. Red Wing went on to finish third at the state tournament.

9. NRHEG girls’ basketball and Lake Mills volleyball fall 1 victory shy of state trips

Two teams made up of a young roster from themselves an eyelash away from state tournaments in 2009. The New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva girls’ basketball team rolled through the regular season and had just one loss, coming against Waseca near the end of the regular season and appeared to be the favorite to win the section title when the Panthers matched up with Blue Earth, a team they had defeated in the regular season. NRHEG looked well on its way after a first half where it grabbed a seven point lead at halftime, but the Buccaneers responded with a strong defensive effort in the second half and the Panthers failed to find scoring like they did in the first half.

The Bulldogs volleyball team graduated five starters from a team that reached the regional championship the year before and head coach Jim Boehmer didn’t exactly know what he had returning outside of senior Darcy Nelson. But in Lake Mills they don’t rebuild and the cupboard wasn’t bare for Boehmer. With Nelson, a pair of sophomores and two juniors the Bulldogs found their way back to the regional finals, but came up short once again, this time to Sheldon in four sets.

10. A.L. football upsets No. 5 Rochester Century

For one night everything seemed to go in favor of the Albert Lea football team as it played through the mud and ran to beat fifth-ranked Rochester Century 26-21. The Tigers were winless at the time and looked clearly overmatched on paper, but four Panther turnovers and 164 yards and three fourth down touchdowns by Albert Lea running back Luke Grossman spelled the difference. The Tigers beat Century for the first time since 1998 and it sent shockwaves across the Big Nine Conference with some calling it one of the biggest upsets in years in the area.

If there were an 11th place, perhaps it could go to Vinny Cerrato, an Albert Lea football standout who made national news in December when he resigned his job as general manager of the Washington Redskins.