A spot in the top half of the Big Nine Conference standings was cemented by the Albert Lea boys’ golf team Friday at the conference tournament at Mankato Country Club.

The Tigers finished the course in 333 strokes to take fifth place in the 10-team tournament and fourth place in the overall conference standings.

Owatonna won the tournament with a score of 320.

Albert Lea entered the tournament tied with Owatonna and Rochester Century for first place in the conference standings with a record of 8-1. The Tigers were hoping for a Big Nine title after shooting a 319 at the same venue on May 22 in a dual against Mankato East.

The Big Nine tournament has massive weight in the conference standings compared regular season. For example, Albert Lea entered the tournament having played nine conference duals. The Big Nine tournament counted as nine more duals that went toward the overall conference record.

Albert Lea coach Riley Worth said he doesn’t mind the system.

“Many times since I’ve coached, we’ve benefitted from this,” he said. “But today we fell victim to it.”

Alex Syverson led Albert Lea with a score of 78, which included a 36 on the back nine. Out of the 60 golfers who participated, Syverson tied Trip Bastian of Mankato West for sixth place.

Lucas Peterson added an 81, Brent Nafzger an 86 and Adam Syverson and Brady Loch tied for the Tigers’ last scoring spot with 88s.

Albert Lea hopes to get back on track at the Subsection 2AA South meet at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Northlinks Golf Course in Mankato.

“After we finished the round, we drove right over to Northlinks and hit a few putts so we feel more comfortable,” Worth said. “It was good for us to move on to the next course right away.”

The Albert Lea girls’ golf team will also participate in the Subsection 2AA South meet Tuesday at Northlinks Golf Course. The girls will start on hole No. 10, and the boys will start on hole No. 1.

Statistics and the final conference standings are in the Scoreboard: May 24 post.