ST. CLOUD &045; It wasn’t just another wrestling tournament for the Albert Lea Tigers.

It was an opportunity to make a statement. And they made the most of it.

The Tigers, rated No. 7 in Class AAA in the latest Guillotine poll, defeated No. 8 Elk River and No. 6 Cambridge-Isanti while winning the St. Cloud Tech Invitational Saturday. The Albert Lea junior varsity also went 3-0, improving its record to 21-1.

&uot;It’s probably one of the best weekends we’ve had since I’ve been coaching,&uot; said 11th-year Albert Lea head coach Larry Goodnature. &uot;We sat down with the kids after practice Friday and told them it’s a chance to go up there and show them what we’ve got. We wanted to win both varsity and JV, and that’s exactly what we did.&uot;

While pleased with the performance of the Tigers’ veterans, Goodnature continues to be impressed with Albert Lea’s younger wrestlers.

&uot;We have so many young guys and they’re wrestling with so much confidence,&uot; said the coach. &uot;Eighth and ninth-graders, all weekend, they went out there and beat juniors and seniors.&uot;

Even more impressive, the Tigers were pinned only once at the varsity level, where 17 wrestlers combined out outscore opponents 104-55.

The Tigers beat Brainerd 43-14 in the opening round and topped Elk River 34-19 in the semifinals. They defeated Cambridge-Isante 27-22 for the title. Five Tigers were undefeated for the day.

Adam Elseth went 3-0 at 135 pounds, registering his 100th career victory in the championship round. Josh Hansen was 3-0 at 112, Adam Morreim 3-0 at 140.

Neal Underdahl wrestled despite being sick and went 2-0 at 130. Nate Goodnature was 1-0 at 130, winning a big 14-11 decision in the finals.

The Tigers’ other records for the day: 103, Zach Hansen, 2-1; 119, Alex Hansen, 1-1; 119, Matt Morris, 0-1; 125, Taylor Ignaszewski, 1-2; 145, Brandon Klukow, 2-1; 152, Dustin Eggum, 1-2; 160, Cory Frerk, 1-1; 160, Jared Butler, 0-1; 171, Derek Goodnature, 1-2; 189, Mike Honeycutt, 1-2; 215, Randy Larson, 2-1; 275, Chris Hable, 2-1.

The Tigers, 4-1 in Big Nine duals, improved to 12-2 overall. They play host to Mankato East Thursday.