The Albert Lea wrestling team picked up a second-place finish over the weekend at the Wolfpack duals at Park High School in Cottage Grove.

The Tigers cruised through their three pool duals to meet Hastings in the championship round, where they lost to the Raiders 36-31.

Albert Lea beat River Falls-Wisconsin in its first dual of the day, 45-36. Six wrestlers earned pinfalls in their matchups to give Albert Lea the bonus points to send them over the edge. Senior Brady Nielsen, sophomores Joey Flores, Caleb Talamantes, Josiah Hedensten and Griffin Sudier, and eighth-grader Cole Glazier each picked up a fall, while freshman Cam Davis notched a major decision and eighth-grader Derrick McMillian won via technical fall 21-6.

The Tigers dominated in their second dual over the Eagles of Bloomington Kennedy, 55-24. The Tigers won the first seven matches of the dual, climbing out to a commanding 37-0 lead. Senior Caleb Miller and freshman Carter Miller picked up their first pinfalls of the meet on top of falls from Flores, Cole Glazier, McMillian, Studier and Nielsen. Davis grabbed another major decision victory and junior Gay Nay Htoo won by a 5-2 decision.

Seniors Zach Glazier and Nic Cantu made their meet debuts in the third dual of the day, which saw the Tigers beat the Tigers of Hutchinson 36-27. Zach Glazier won his match by fall in 3:55 and Cantu won his via a 16-6 major decision. Nielsen got his third pinfall of the afternoon, while Flores, McMillian and Cole Glazier won by decision. Davis continued his impressive scoring with a 15-0 technical fall victory.

In the final dual, the Tigers picked up just three pinfall victories coming from Cole and Zach Glazier and Nielsen. Flores won via a 10-0 major decision, and Davis, Cantu, Studier and  Talamantes each won by decision. However, it wouldn’t be enough to pick up the team victory.

The Tigers now sit at 7-2 in duals this season and will be back on the mat starting Friday at the RCTC tournament in Rochester.