The Albert Lea Wrestling Invitational is always an extremely tough tournament.

Tuesday, December 07, 1999

The Albert Lea Wrestling Invitational is always an extremely tough tournament.

This year, it was even more difficult than usual for the home team.

The Tigers had to forfeit two weight classes in all three rounds and finished seventh out of eight teams in Saturday’s dual-meet tournament at Southwest Junior High School.

&uot;Any time you give up 12 points against a good team, it’s very tough,&uot; said Tigers coach Larry Goodnature. &uot;We wrestled as good as we could, I think. We just need to find a couple boys to fill 112 and 130.&uot;

Apple Valley, the defending Class AAA state champion and the current No. 1 ranked team, established itself as an overwhelming favorite to repeat.

The Eagles beat the Tigers 65-15 in the opening round, then knocked off North Iowa Conference power Osage 43-12 in the semifinals.

In the other semifinal, Faribault upset No. 3 rated Hastings by criteria after tying 33-33 at the end of 13 matches.

Apple Valley went on to shut out Faribault 62-0 in the championship meet.

&uot;Apple Valley will win the state championship,&uot; said Goodnature. &uot;They’re just way above everyone else.&uot;

After falling to Apple Valley, the Tigers dropped a 39-31 decision to Lakeville.

In the seventh-place meet, Albert Lea beat Worthington 39-35.

Winning against Worthington were Josh Hansen, 103 pounds; Adam Elseth, 119; Adam Morreim, 125; Victor Rodriguez, 130; Alan Attig, 135; Josh Busch, 152; and Brody Page, 189.

The rest of the lineup included Jason Gordon, 140; Dustin Klukow, 145; Blaine Swenson, 160; Jake Goodnature, 171; and Adam Lares, heavyweight.

&uot;Joel Busch and Brody Page both went 3-0 and had a real good tournament,&uot; said Coach Goodnature. &uot;They looked real good.&uot;

The Tigers’ junior varsity also went 1-2, placing seventh.

Goodnature said he looks for the Tigers to improve as their younger wrestlers in the lower weights gain experience.

&uot;We’ve god a young squad down below, and they’ll get better as the year goes on,&uot; said Goodnature. &uot;They made a lot of mistakes in this tournament, but they’ll come around.&uot;

The Tigers open Big Nine dual-meet action Thursday at Faribault.