Two in a row
Published 12:00 am Saturday, April 7, 2001
It’s been said more than once the past few years that the future of Albert Lea wrestling looks bright.
Saturday, April 07, 2001
It’s been said more than once the past few years that the future of Albert Lea wrestling looks bright.
It keeps getting brighter all the time.
The Albert Lea Eagles youth wrestling team finished the 2000-2001 season with a record of 23-0, repeating as the champion in the Northwest Youth Wrestling Association state tournament held last weekend at the Rochester Mayo Civic Center.
But that wasn’t all.
At the state tournament, the Albert Lea team was presented the Sportsmanship Award while the coaches shared the Coach of the Year Award. Coaching the team were Jon Hansen, Brian Paul, Jack Kortan, Mike Hansen, Layne Hable and Frank Flores – who credited the team’s success to the wrestlers’ dedication.
&uot;These kids did a great job,&uot; said Jon Hansen. &uot;They worked very hard all year for this.&uot;
The team, consisting of boys in kindergarten through sixth grade, started the season with wins at Farmington, Austin and Rochester, as well as the Minnesota/USA Wrestling state title.
The run to the state title started with the Region 2 tournament, where Albert Lea defeated New London-Spicer, Minneota and Adrian.
At state, the locals dominated Tartan 63-6 and Grand Meadow/LeRoy-Ostrander/Kingsland 69-6 before topping Rochester 56-15 in the semifinals. In the championship round, Albert Lea beat Hastings 55-9 while winning 12 of 15 matches.
Members of the team included Cody Hansen, Carter Kortan, Trey Hable, Lucas Hansen, Cory Hansen, Connor Kortan, Beau Hansen, Eric Johnson, Isaac Johnson, Logan Hansen, Logan Kortan, Jacob Cibert, Nick Flores, Brandon Mellang, Tim Frazier, Darren Honeycutt, Jesse Peterson, Taylor Ignaszewski, Zach McGinnis, Matt Morris and Alan Olson.