By Jim Lutgens Tribune Sports Editor

FARIBAULT &045; The Albert Lea High School boys’ golf team played better.

But so did the opponents.

The Tigers shot a 319 for 18 holes at Faribault Country Club Thursday while Rochester John Marshall had 308 and the host team 309.

It was the first Big Nine losses of the season for the Tigers, who fell to 3-2 in conference play. They lost for the first time this year last week.

&uot;Ironically, we played a little better than we have been playing,&uot; said coach Matt Addington. &uot;The thing is, there are so many good teams around. JM is playing extremely well, and Faribault is obviously playing well. You look at our section, and it’s loaded with good teams, and we’re not one of them right now. In a lot of conferences in the state, we’d be looking good. But with the level of teams we play, we’re not looking so good right now.&uot;

Adam Elseth had his best round of the spring Thursday, shooting a 76. Following for the Tigers were Ross Stadheim, 79; Ben Jones, 81; Beau Larson, 83; Casey Bowman, 84; and Matt Bennett, 85.

The Albert Lea junior varsity won with 333 strokes to 340 for JM and 349 for Faribault. Troy Farnes was the medalist with an 80, followed by Ben Billat, 82; Mike Larson, 84; Jared Bowman, 87; Tyler Hegwood, 90; and Cory Ellertson, 90.

&uot;It was nice to see Elseth improve his game, and Farnes played well,&uot; said Addington. &uot;We just hope we can keep improving and play well when it counts the

most, the conference and section tournament.&uot;

The Tigers travel to Owatonna for a Big Nine triangular next Thursday.