ROCHESTER – As the dual-meet season ended in the Section 1AAA semifinals for the Albert Lea High School wrestling team, there were no regrets and no second guessing for the Tigers.

Monday, February 18, 2002

ROCHESTER – As the dual-meet season ended in the Section 1AAA semifinals for the Albert Lea High School wrestling team, there were no regrets and no second guessing for the Tigers.

&uot;We just got beat by a better team,&uot; said coach Larry Goodnature.

The young Tigers, perhaps a year or two away from contending for the title, lost 41-22 to second-seeded Northfield Saturday at the Rochester Mayo Civic Center. Albert Lea, seeded third, finished 15-8 in duals while the Raiders took a 27-1 mark into the championship meet against Owatonna.

&uot;Northfield is a good team, a very balanced team, and they definitely deserve to be seeded No. 2 and rated No. 9 in the state,&uot; said Goodnature. &uot;We wrestled as well as we could have. Everyone gave it their best shot. That’s all the coaches and the wrestlers can expect.&uot;

The Tigers still have hopes of getting to state, though it will have to be on an individual basis. The top two finishers at each weight in the section individual tournament qualify.

&uot;That’s the nice thing about this sport,&uot; said Goodnature. &uot;We can’t make it to state as a team, but some of our individuals can get there.&uot;

Some of the hopefuls were impressive Saturday.

Junior Josh Hansen, who has lost just once this season, pinned his opponent at 103 pounds. Sophomore Adam Elseth, who also has only one loss, scored a 16-5 major decision at 135. Justin Krueger won by fall at 160 while Adam Morreim took an 8-5 decision at 140. Adam Lares got the Tigers’ other win, prevailing 4-3 at 189.

Alex Hansen dropped a 6-2 decision at 112. Nate Loberg lost a major decision at 145. Brandon Klukow and Carl Gaudian lost tech falls at 125 and 130, respectively. Losing by fall were Nate Goodnature, 119; Dustin Eggum, 152; Derek Goodnature, 171; and Chris Hable, heavyweight.

The Tigers travel to Winona for the section individual tournament. The first session is Friday at 4 p.m. Saturday’s sessions include the semifinals at 11 a.m., fifth and sixth-place matches at 3:30, finals and third-place bouts at 5 p.m.

Coach Goodnature looks for the Tigers to return to the Mayo Civic Center next year and, hopefully, place higher as a team.

&uot;We’re young, we’ve got a lot of good kids and we had a couple kids hurt that will definitely step in,&uot; said Goodnature. &uot;We’ll definitely be back here in the Civic Center, I know that, and we hope to be in the finals. It all depends on if we get into the weight room during the offseason. If we want to take that next step up, we’ve got to get these kids in the weight room.&uot;