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To Albert Lea’s Neil Chalmers.

Congratulations to Albert Lea High School coach Neil Chalmers, who last weekend was named the Class AA State Assistant Tennis Coach of the Year at the Minnesota Coaches Hall of Fame awards banquet.

Chalmers started his coaching career in Blue Earth in 1996 and carried over to Albert Lea High School, where he has coached for over 40 seasons, helping students improve in the sport but also helping them become better versions of themselves.

Chalmers had made a notable impact in his coaching and teaching career, and we applaud those who made the selection for this recogition.

It is well deserved.

To Lake Mills boys cross country coach Beth Van Roekel.

Congratulations to Lake Mills boys cross country coach Beth Van Roekel, who on Thursday was named the Top of Iowa Conference West Boys Cross Country Coach of the Year.

This is Van Roekel’s third year as head coach of the cross country team, and already she has seen big success.

Last year the team won the state championship after a great season, and Van Roekel was named the Class 1A Boys State Coach of the Year by the Iowa Association of Track Coaches.

This year is also seeing big success, and we look forward to seeing how the end of the season goes.

To the shrinking gap in the cost for the Albert Lea recreation facilities projects.

The Albert Lea City Council on Monday gave the go-ahead for 16 more projects as part of the updates to the city’s recreation facilities.

The projects were approved by voters in a referendum in April, and the city has been working with Apex Facility Solutions of Coon Rapids to line up bids.

City staff said all but three of the projects came in at or under their original estimates, which is good news, especially in light of the arena refrigeration system coming in over $1 million higher than expected.

Overall the recreation projects are $180,000 or 1.8% over budget — much lower than it was previously.

We hope the bids for the remaining projects come in just as well, and the council won’t have to make any difficult decisions on cuts.