Albert Lea boys’ and girls’ track placed ninth and eighth, respectively, at the Big 9 Conference track meet behind stellar individual performances.

Two new school records were set, including Chrissy Monson’s 5:08.04 in the 1600m and the boys’ 4×800 team, which broke the school record set in 1981 in 8:08.57. That team consisted of Sean Laurie, Jack Sturtz, Matt Tiegs and Trevor Rasmussen.

Monson was a double-winner, also placing first in the 3200m and won both races by more than seven seconds. She earned all-conference honors for her performance.

“She ran beautiful,” girls’ track and field head coach Margo Wayne said. “Very smart, technically correct races.”

Joining Monson with all-conference honors was Sarah Wenum, who ran a 2:21.99 800m, cutting 3-4 seconds off of her personal best.

“She ran a great race against a tough field,” Wayne said. “Sarah was incredible.”

Trevor Rasmussen earned all-conference after placing sixth in the 800m with a time of 1:59.92. Rasmussen cut nearly two seconds off his seed time.

After the full 18 events, the boys’ placed ninth with 47 points, behind Rochester Century and Mankato West, tied with 99. Mankato East won the boys event with 201.5 points.

Technical errors may have cost the team a chance at eighth or higher.

“We had a couple flubs with handoffs that could have cost us some points,” boy’s track and field head coach Lisa Deyak said. “But we ran really, really well.”

Individuals performances, though, stuck out in the coach’s mind.

“We had personal bests all over the place,” Deyak said. “Long jumpers jumping a foot longer than ever before. I don’t know that the team score will show how well we did.”

The girls’ team placed eighth with 70 points, shy of seventh-place Winona with 94 and Big 9 champion Rochester Mayo with 266.

The team also saw individual improvement, with a team finish that didn’t reflect the effort put forth.

“We dropped time all over the place,” Wayne said. “A lot of things went really well. Give the kids a ton of credit for what they accomplished.”

The two teams will compete again on June 3 and 5 as they travel to Lakeville South High School for the Section 1AA tournament.