OWATONNA &045; Since their time trials were wiped out by winter weather, the Owatonna Co-Ed Invitational turned into a tune-up meet of sorts for the Albert Lea High School track and field teams.

It helped lead to a last-place finish among seven schools Friday.

The host Huskies won with 212.5 points, followed by Hastings with 200.5, Winona 145, Park Center 107, Austin 103.5, New Prague 93.5 and Albert Lea 59.

&uot;It was a real fun meet,&uot; said girls’ coach Margo Wayne. &uot;We saw some real bright spots. We have a lot of work to do, but we’ve come a long ways.&uot;

&uot;This was our first real chance to see what the athletes can do,&uot; said boys’ coach Lon Nelson. &uot;On the boys’ side, we limited most of our runners to one on-track event to enable the other team members to get some experience due to our canceled home meet last week. It cost us some points, but in the long run I’m sure it will pay dividends.&uot;

Most of the meet was scored by combining two girls and two boys in each event.

The lone first for the Tigers was by Emily Bartusek in the 400 meters.

Staci Busch, Emily Appel, Mike Veldman and Tyler Young teamed for third in the shot put while Busch, Andrea Irvine, Veldman and Young took fourth in the discus.

&uot;Our shot putters were putting on a clinic for the rest of the field,&uot; said Nelson. &uot;Veldman and Young are flirting with the 50-foot mark and (Tom) Munden is not far behind them. It’s a great trio to go into any meet with.&uot;

The Tigers were fourth in the 4×800 relay with Bartusek, Katie Stenseth, Sean Harms and Matt Rankin, fourth in the 4×400 with Amy Ravenhorst, Bartusek, Andrew Irvine and Joe Squires, and fifth in the 4×200 with Jasey Porter, Ravenhorst, Cory Kuipers and Andy Stapleton.

Other ALHS places: Porter, seventh, 100 and eighth, 800; Stenseth, sixth, 1600; Sasha Flores, eighth, 400; Krista Horejsi, sixth, 300

hurdles; Corey Berggren, fifth, 400.

&uot;The times are really looking good for this point in the season, and we’re excited about our upcoming meets,&uot; said Wayne.

Noteworthy nonplacewinning marks for the boys, according to Nelson, were by Harms, 800, 2:08; Cory Kuipers, pole vault, 10-0; and Jason Kuipers, high jump, 5-8; Munden, shot put, 43-5. Veldman and Young were second and third overall, respectively, in the shot put.

&uot;On the track we’re a stride behind the competition, but we won’t panic,&uot; said Nelson. &uot;There’s seven weeks left and this bunch of runners has the potential to deliver fast times. My younger hurdlers, Dustin Andrews and Jordan Nolander, are attacking the barriers nicely and I’m anxious to see what they’ll to later this season.&uot;

Both squads compete Tuesday in the Panther Invitational at New Richland.