A home course advantage unfortunately proved an advantage for every team Monday at Green Lea Golf Course for the Albert Lea girls’ golf team.

Every team shot below their season scoring average in the Big Nine Conference championships, highlighted by Mankato East who shot 100 strokes off of its average.

“It was a bizarre scoring day,” Tigers head coach Shawn Riebe said. “We can’t control what the other guys do that much.”

Albert Lea scored a season-low 365 but it was only good for a fourth place finish as Austin won the tournament with a 355 over Faribault’s 357 and Mankato West’s 363. The Packers and Falcons finished tied as the overall conference champions.

“It would of been a great year to grab that title at the home course,” Riebe said. I’m proud of the girls for shooting a 365.”

The Tigers had two players shot career bests in Taylor Nelson with a 92 and Heather Greibrok with a 91.

Austin’s Catherine Wagner won medalist honors with a 79 while Albert Lea’s Kelli Hanson shot an 89 to earn All-Conference honors.

The Tigers move on to section play Thursday at the Cannon Golf Club in Cannon Falls, where the team recently completed a practice round.

Hanson shot a very impressive 77 in the tune-up round and Riebe said she feels confident about playing there for a state berth.

“We’ve really showed some steady improvement over the last month,” Riebe said. “I think we have a real chance of moving on to the second round.”

They’ll face a very difficult field including previously state-ranked Northfield and Lakeville North. Albert Lea faced the two teams last Thursday and finished fifth in a nine team field that included the ranked teams of Forest Lake and Woodbury.