HASTINGS &045;&160;Albert Lea pulled its best golf out of the bag at the perfect time. Unfortunately, it proved to be one stroke short of what it needed.

The Tigers shot a season-best round of 316 to finish in an eighth place tie with Owatonna at the section 1AA meet. The top eight teams advance to next Tuesday’s second round, but the Tigers lost out because Owatonna’s No. 5 golfer shot a better score than Albert Lea’s ending their season.

&8220;There is no sadness about not moving on for me because I saw our team play to its potential today,&8221; said Albert Lea head coach Riley Worth. &8220;We played well today but the kids did learn that every stroke is important because this is the third time we lost a meet by one stroke this season.&8221;

Despite the team coming up just short of advancing, two individual players will continue their season after shooting strong rounds.

Senior Alex Lair and eighth-grader Tyler Brackey moved on by shooting 75 and 77, respectively.

The individual cutoff for advancing was 80.

&8220;It says a lot when you can shoot like that in the most important times of the season,&8221; said Worth.

Both players will look to make the top five next Tuesday and advance on to state.

&8220;Alex has a very good shot to go if he puts together another strong round like he did today, and Tyler has an outside shot at the worst,&8221; said Worth.

Senior Mike Larson nearly continued his season as well, just missing the number by a single stroke, shooting an 81.

&8220;That was tough especially since he has been playing his best golf of late,&8221; said Worth.

Cody Anderson shot 83, Drew Klick carded an 84 and Casey Marka complete the Tiger golfers with a 91.

&8220;We threw out an 84 which just shows how well we played today because many times during the season that would have been our best or second best score,&8221; said Worth.

Egan was leading the team race after shooting 295.

Lair and Brackey will be back at Bellwood Oaks in Hastings Tuesday.