NEW RICHLAND &045; Albert Lea boys’ track and field coach Lon Nelson was hoping for improvement from the Tigers this spring, and Tuesday he got it. A lot of it.

The Tigers finished second out of six squads in the Panther Invitational at New Richland.

&uot;We made a nice improvement over our finish here last year,&uot; said Nelson. &uot;Our 4×800 relay was our only win then, and tonight we had seven and were DQ’d on a relay we could easily have won.&uot;

Maple River won the meet with 166 points. The Tigers had 146, followed by St. Clair with 115.5, NRHEG 80, Alden-Conger 8 and Faribault Academy for the Deaf 7.

The biggest highlights were in the weights, and Tyler Young had the biggest night of all. The senior won the discus with a toss of 153 feet, 8 inches and took first in the shot put at 50 feet, 1/2 inch.

Taylor Zimmerman was also a double winner, taking the 1600 and 3200 meters.

The other firsts were by Corey Kuipers in the pole vault and by the 4×100 relay team of Nate Lombardi, Corey Berggren, Josh Wilke and Jason Kuipers.

Jon Friday, Berggren, Andrew Irvine and Corey Kuipers combined for second in the 4×400 relay.

Other ALHS places: Mike Veldman, second, shot put; Andrew Stapleton, second, triple jump and third, long jump; Levi Budd, second, 3200; Jason Kuipers, third, high jump and third, pole vault; Lombardi, third, 100; Jordan Neve, third, discus; Tom Munden, third, shot put.

&uot;We’re only a week away from Big Nine competition,&uot; said Nelson. &uot;I hope this served as a spark to ignite the boys to maintain, and even improve their performances. It’s been a horrible spring to train in and we need to continue to push ourselves in spite of the weather.&uot;

The Tigers host Winona and Mankato West next Tuesday.