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Sports Memories by Tom Jones

10 years

• The Albert Lea girls’ soccer team defeated Winona 4-0 to finish their regular season with a 9-3-2 record. With the Tigers being 4-0-1 in sectional play, coach Rick Barnhill’s team was expected to get the first seed.
• The Albert Lea girls’ swimming and diving team took third place at the Austin Invitational. Lindsey Horejsi captured first place in the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke events while Anna Anderson took first in the 50 and 100 freestyle.
• The Albert Lea boys’ soccer team opened Section 1A play with a 3-0 win over Winona Cotter at Jim Gustafson Field. Porfirio Garcia, Lay Wah and Austin Dulitz scored goals for the Tigers, who were slated to play Kasson-Mantorville in the section quarterfinals.

20 years

• Jason Hemmingsen ran for three touchdowns, Josh Cords two and Ryan Wach one as the Alden-Conger football team defeated Grenada-Huntley-East Chain/Martin Luther 40-6.
• The Albert Lea girls’ soccer team defeated Austin 3-0 in a game played at Hammer Field. Leah Walters had her third and fourth goals of the season for the Tigers with Kendra Olchefske adding the other.
• The Albert Lea girls’ cross country team finished 11th at the Owatonna Invitational. Kelsey Johnson paced the Tigers with a 34th place finish with a time of 17.10.4. The boys’ team placed 12th with Levi Budd coming in 27th with a time of 17:22.7.

50 years

• Paul Nies carried the ball 16 times for 81-yards including a 42-yard touchdown run in the first quarter to lead the Albert Lea Tigers football team to a 20-8 win over Mankato West.
• Faron Bremseth had 17 tackles and a two-yard touchdown run to lead the Glenville Trojans football team to a 25-8 win over Janesville. Dwight Greibrok also added touchdown runs of four and 25-yards in the win.
• Barb Walker scored 16 points and Natalie Politz added 12 as the Alden Blackhawks girls’ basketball team defeated Elmore 56-36. The Blackhawks won the b-squad game 38-15 behind 12 points from Carrie Schultz.
• With one second to play, Fred Cox’s 27-yard field goal led the Minnesota Vikings to a 23-21 win over the Dallas Cowboys at Texas Stadium.
• The Albert Lea Tigers cross country team placed fourth in the large school division of the Austin Invitational. The Tigers were led by Ralph Hove who placed 14th in a field of 42 runners.
• In the 12-year-old division of the 14th annual Punt, Pass and Kick event that was held at Hammer Field, Tim Malepsy placed first, Doug Remy second and Dave Pitts third.
• Albert Lea High School graduate John Speltz was training to be on the St. John’s University swimming team. He was fundraising to help offset costs of the team’s pre-season training trip to Florida over the Christmas break.
• Behind Steve Garvey’s two home runs, the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Pittsburg Pirates 12-1 to capture the National League Championship in four games. They were set to play the American League champion Oakland A’s in what was to be the first all-California World Series.

Coaching update

Former Albert Lea girls’ soccer coach Rick Barnhill just completed his second year of coaching the ninth-grade girls’ soccer team at Park High School in Cottage Grove. The Wolfpack have gone 12-2-1 and 10-3-2 under Barnhill.