It was obvious nobody was going to beat Owatonna in Tuesday’s girls’ track and field quadrangular at Hammer Field.

The Albert Lea Tigers almost beat their arch rivals.

The Tigers took third with 53 points, just behind second-place Austin’s 58. Owatonna ran away with first with 129. Rochester John Marshall had 32.

&uot;The times are coming down,&uot; said ALHS coach Margo Wayne. &uot;I think the lineup is starting to fall into shape, which is a good thing with the conference meet coming up next week and the section meet right on the heels of that. I was very happy with how the girls performed tonight and how they competed against a very, very good Owatonna team.&uot;

Emily Bartusek appeared ready for the postseason, winning the 200 and 400 meters and anchoring the second-place 4×400 relay team that also included Amy Ravenhorst, Jasey Porter and Sasha Flores.

Ravenhorst also had another strong meet, taking second in the 400, second in the high jump and third in the 200.

The 4×800 relay team of Katie Stenseth, Cara Thorn, Rachel Antinozzi and Amy Leach placed second.

Other Albert Lea places: Kelley Schreiber, fourth, 100 hurdles; Stenseth, third, 1600; Krista Horejsi, third, 300 hurdles; Steph Overgaard, fifth, 300 hurdles and third, long jump; Porter, third, 800; Thorn, fourth, 800; Leah

Gilbertson, fifth, 3200; Staci Busch, fourth, shot put; Annie Berger, fourth, long jump.

Owatonna, which has a 109-member squad, won the junior varsity meet with 181.5 points. The Tigers had 40.5, Austin 21 and John Marshall 17.

Firsts for the Tigers’ JV were by Flores in the 400, Berger in the 200, and the 4×400 relay team of Horejsi, Becky Birkhofer, Kaeli Hable and Thorn. Dara Cunningham, Jenny Larson, Stacy Armstrong and Hable took second in the 4×200.

The Tigers travel to Austin for the Big Nine meet Friday, May 23. The Section 1AA meet is May 29 and 31 at Carleton College in Northfield.