ROCHESTER — Both Class AA state wrestling tournaments will feature a heavy dose of Albert Lea.

In addition to last week’s berth in the dual state tournament, the Albert Lea wrestling team qualified half of its starting lineup for the individual state tournament.

The Tigers produced four champions and three runners-up Saturday at the Section 1AA individual tournament at Mayo Civic Center in Rochester.

“They’re wrestling the way I like it,” said Albert Lea coach Larry Goodnature, who was named Section 1AA Coach of the Year. “They’re focused, and they’re wrestling hard.”

A trio of No. 1 seeds and a No. 3 seed comprised Albert Lea’s tournament champions.

Devin Nelson (13-6), ranked No. 8, was the No. 3 seed at 138 pounds, and he embraced the spoiler role.

“It’s nice being able to be the underdog,” Nelson said. “Going to state my senior year — especially with the team (qualifying) as well — it should be fun next weekend.”

In the semifinals, Nelson upset No. 7-ranked Ryan Mullennex (34-6) of Faribault with a 4-0 decision and won the finals with a 5-4 decision over No. 6-ranked Chris Pettis (31-6) of Waterville-Elysian-Morristown/Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton.

“He’s really putting it together right now and peaking at the right time going into the state tournament,” Goodnature said. “I was happy to see that.”

Albert Lea’s No. 1-seed section champions were Zach Glazier, 106; Garrett Aldrich, 120; and Tim Christianson, 182.

Glazier (37-6) advanced to the finals with an 8-2 decision over Stewartville’s Joey Thompson (17-8). To secure the section title, Glazier beat Waseca’s Kyle Cavanaugh (30-12) 4-1 after Cavanaugh beat No. 7 Reed DeFrang (38-6) of Plainview-Elgin-Millville with a 5-4 decision.

Aldrich (37-4) cruised through the 120-pound bracket with three falls and a major decision. His closest match was against Kasson-Mantorville’s Garsen Schorr in the quarterfinals, a bout that Aldrich won 10-2. In the semifinals, Aldrich pinned Caledonia’s Zach Schneider (31-11) in 2:42, and he pinned Waseca’s Cade King (32-6) in 1:36 in the finals.

Christianson (34-1) pinned his first three opponents before facing Kasson-Mantorville’s Noah Ryan (33-9) in the finals. The two wrestlers squared off at the same location a week earlier during the section dual championship. Christianson won the first bout with a 12-2 major decision that helped decide the match for the Tigers. In the rematch, Christianson took a 2-0 lead on a takedown with nine seconds left in the first period. He added an escape early in the second period and went on to win 3-1.

Christianson said he used last year’s loss in the section tournament as fuel to win this year.

“The best thing that happened to me was losing last year,” he said. “I just worked hard and set my eyes on taking first.”

The Tigers had three state qualifiers who were runners-up: Gavin Ignaszewski, Beau Johnsrud and Triston Westerlund.

Ignaszewski (34-9) lost the championship match 7-2 against Keaton Schorr (35-6) at 113, but rebounded in the true-second match with a pin over Plaiview-Elgin-Millville’s Joe Stucky (18-14) in 1:55.

Johnsrud (34-10) fell to the consolation bracket with a 2-0 decision against No. 1-ranked Paul Fitterer (35-2) of Cannon Falls, but bounced back with wins in the consolation semifinals, the third-place match and a 6-5 decision over No. 6 Chase DeFrang (17-3) of Plainview-Elgin-Millville in the match for true second.

“He was seeded fourth and came all the way back, which is very hard to do,” Goodnature said about Johnsrud. “He just kept knocking them off one at a time and finally got in there for true second and won it. I was really happy for Beau. He really dug in.”

Westerlund (40-3), ranked No. 2 and seeded No. 1, lost the championship at 220 pounds against Kasson-Mantorville’s Chase O’Connor (37-5) with a 3-2 decision in four overtimes. However, he qualified for state by pinning No. 7 Dylan Winnegar (23-8) of Waseca in the true-second match.

“He came back focused and wasn’t going to be denied his trip to state,” Goodnature said about Westerlund.

The Tigers also had two placewinners who didn’t qualify for state. Dereck Samudio took fourth place at 142 pounds, and Chris Nelson was fifth at 160.

Next, the Albert Lea wrestling team (33-1) will compete at the Class AA state dual tournament at 9 a.m. Thursday against Foley (26-5) in the Class AA state dual quarterfinals at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

The individual meet will start Friday at 9 a.m. at the same location.

 

Albert Lea individuals at Section 1AA tournament

 

106 pounds: Zach Glazier, champion

Day 1:

First round: No. 3 Zach Glazier (AL) tech. fall Dayton Deutsch (Waseca), 19-2, 1:56

Quarterfinals: No. 3 Zach Glazier (AL) tech. fall Erwin Strelow (Cannon Falls), 4:14

Day 2:

Semifinals: No. 3 Zach Glazier (AL) dec. Joey Thompson (Stewartville), 8-2

Finals: No. 3 Zach Glazier (AL) dec. Kyle Cavanaugh (Waseca), 4-1

 

113 pounds: Gavin Ignaszewski, runner-up

Day 1:

First round: Gavin Ignaszewski (AL), bye

Quarterfinals: Gavin Ignaszewski (AL) fall Peter Fitterer (Cannon Falls), 2:45

Day 2:

Semifinals: Gavin Ignaszewski (AL) fall Zavier Riser (Lewiston-Altura/Rushford-Peterson), 5:37

Finals: No. 3 Keaton Schorr (Kasson-Mantorville) dec. Gavin Ignaszewski (AL), 7-2

True second: Gavin Ignaszewski (AL) fall Joe Stucky (Plainview-Elgin-Millville), 1:55

 

120 pounds: Garrett Aldrich, champion

Day 1:

First round: No. 1 Garrett Aldrich (AL) fall Chris Kline (Byron), 1:50

Quarterfinals: No. 1 Garrett Aldrich (AL) major dec. Garson Schorr (Kasson-Mantorville), 10-2

Day 2:

Semifinals: No. 1 Garrett Aldrich (AL) fall Zach Schneider (Caledonia), 2:42

Finals: No. 1 Garrett Aldrich (AL) fall Cade King (Waseca), 1:36

 

126 pounds: Beau Johnsrud, runner-up

Day 1:

First round: Beau Johnsrud (AL) fall Flabio Olmos (Byron), 1:00

Quarterfinals: Beau Johnsrud (AL) fall Elijah Wilcox (Kasson-Mantorville), 1:35

Day 2:

Semifinals: No. 1 Paul Fitterer (Cannon Falls) dec. Beau Johnsrud (AL), 2-0

True second: Beau Johnsrud (AL) dec. No. 6 Chase DeFrang (Plainview-Elgin-Millville), 7-6

 

132 pounds: Jesse Hernandez

Day 1:

Hunter Caldwell (Caledonia) fall Jesse Hernandez (AL), 0:45

Consolation first round: Jesse Hernandez (AL), bye

Consolation second round: Jesse Hernandez (AL) injury default victory over Ben Adamson (Byron)

Consolation quarterfinals: Lucas Hagel (Waseca) dec. Jesse Hernandez (AL), 7-4

 

138 pounds: Devin Nelson, champion

Day 1:

First round: No. 8 Devin Nelson (AL), bye

Quarterfinals: No. 8 Devin Nelson (AL) major dec. Thor Sandven (La Crescent), 13-2

Day 2:

Semifinals: No. 8 Devin Nelson (AL) dec. No. 7 Ryan Mullennex (Faribault), 4-0

Finals: No. 8 Devin Nelson (AL) dec. No. 6 Chris Pettis (Waterville-Elysian-Morristown/Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton), 5-4

 

145 pounds: Santana Acosta

Day 1:

First round: Santana Acosta (AL), bye

Quarterfinals: Hyden Strain (Cannon Falls) dec. Santana Acosta (AL), 8-7

Consolation second round: Santana Acosta (AL) fall Sam Puetz (Lewiston-Altura-Rushford-Peterson), 2:15

Consolation quarterfinals: Nate Peterson (Byron) dec. Santana Acosta (AL), 15-13

 

152 pounds: Dereck Samudio, fourth place

Day 1:

First round: Dereck Samudio (AL) major dec. Tylor Nelson (Caledonia), 18-5

Quarterfinals: Frank Wingert (Plainview-Elgin-Millville) dec. Dereck Samudio, 13-9

Consolation second round: Dereck Samudio (AL), bye

Consolation quarterfinals: Dereck Samudio (AL) fall Brody Boran (Waterville-Elysian-Morristown/Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton), 0:55

Day 2:

Consolation semifinals: Dereck Samudio (AL) tech. fall Alex Bertram (Byron), 19-3

Third place: McCoy Tekautz (Lewiston-Altura/Rushford-Peterson), dec. Dereck Samudio, 7-5

 

160 pounds: Chris Nelson, fifth place

Day 1:

First round: Chris Nelson (AL), bye

Quarterfinals: No. 6 Ben Boran (Waterville-Elysian-Morristown/Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton) fall Chris Nelson, 4:40

Consolation second round: Chris Nelson (AL) fall Bryce Haag (Lewiston-Altura/Rushford-Peterson), 1:12

Consolation quarterfinals: Chris Nelson (AL) dec. Blake Olson (Grand Meadow/LeRoy-Ostrander/Kingsland, Southland), 11-4

Day 2:

Consolation semifinals: Brady Norton (Plainview-Elgin-Millville) dec. Chris Nelson (AL), 7-5

Fifth place: Chris Nelson (AL) fall Troy Bailey (Stewartville), 1:21

 

170 pounds: Parker Mullenbach

Day 1:

First round: No. 4 Andy Bigelow (Kasson-Mantorville) dec. Parker Mullenbach (AL), 10-2

Consolation first round: Parker Mullenbach (AL), bye

Consolation second round: Parker Mullenbach (AL) dec. Isaac VanThomme (Faribault), 5-2

Consolation quarterfinals: No. 7 Christophor Bain (Grand Meadow/LeRoy-Ostrander/Kingsland, Southland) dec. Parker Mullenbach, 5-0

 

182 pounds: Tim Christianson, champion

Day 1:

First round: No. 4 Tim Christianson (AL) fall Josh Heyda (Faribault), 0:15

Quarterfinals: No. 4 Tim Christianson (AL) fall Cy Kuschel (Waseca), 2:56

Day 2:

Semifinals: No. 4 Tim Christianson (AL) fall Sam Roe (Grand Meadow/LeRoy-Ostrander/Kingsland/Southland), 2:17

Finals: No. 4 Tim Christianson (AL) dec. Noah Ryan (Kasson-Mantorville), 3-1

 

195 pounds: Tanner Palmer

Day 1:

First round: Bradley Schultz (Plainview-Elgin-Millville) dec. Tanner Palmer, 5-1

Consolation first round: Tanner Palmer (AL), bye

Consolation second round: Adam Gehling (Stewartville) fall Tanner Palmer (AL), 3:37

 

220 pounds: Triston Westerlund runner-up

Day 1:

First round: No. 2 Triston Westerlund (AL), bye

Quarterfinals: No. 2 Triston Westerlund (AL) fall Brandon Turner (Grand Meadow/LeRoy-Ostrander/Kingsland, Southland), 1:08

Day 2:

Semifinals: No. 2 Triston Westerlund (AL) dec. Dillon McEachran (Faribault), 9-1

Finals: No. 3 Chase O’Connor (Kasson-Mantorville) dec. No. 2 Triston Westerlund, 3-2 (4 OT)

True second: No. 2 Triston Westerlund (AL) fall No. 7 Dylan Winegar (Waseca), 3:25

 

285 pounds: Matt Palmer

Day 1:

First round: Matt Palmer (AL) fall Mason Stevens (Cannon Falls), 4:17

Quarterfinals: Isaac Breuer (Plainview-Elgin-Millville) fall Matt Palmer (AL), 5:22

Consolation second round: Matt Palmer (AL) dec. Ben Clayton (Waseca), 3-2

Consolation quarterfinals: Cayden Johnson (Kasson-Mantorville) dec. Matt Palmer, 1-0