ROCHESTER &8212; Not everything went to plan, but the second-ranked Albert Lea wrestling team still finished third against top competition at the Christmas Tournament this past weekend.

Albert Lea finished 9 1/2 points behind champion third-ranked Hastings and 6 behind No. 1 Apple Valley with 165 points.

&8220;I told the kids Thursday night that if we could get everyone to score or have everyone live up to their seeds we had a chance to win,&8221; Albert Lea head coach Larry Goodnature said. &8220;We didn&8217;t have everyone score and not everyone lived up to their seeds, but the kids still had a very good tournament.&8221;

The Tigers crowned one individual champion in Cody Hansen who dominated the competition at 103 to win.

The top-ranked Hansen cruised all the way to the finals and capped his tournament with a 7-4 win over No. 2 Dylan Ness of Blooming Kennedy in the finals.

&8220;Cody had a great tournament going up against the best wrestlers in the state and proved he deserved his No. 1 ranking.&8221;

No. 4 Eric Johnson bounced back from an early loss to finish third at 125. He downed Brian Theroux of White Bear Lake 6-2 in overtime to get into the third place match were he handled Scott West&8217;s (Class AA) sixth-ranked Tyler Kivel, 7-5.

Third-ranked Beau Hansen continued his strong start to the season advancing all the way to the finals at 145 before Anoka&8217;s top-ranked Jake Deitchler stopped him with a 24-8 technical fall.

Second-ranked Matt Morris was equally impressive at 160 for the Tigers picking up pins and major decisions before No. 1 (Class AA) Travis Rutt of Jackson County Central stopped him in the finals 8-3.

No. 3

Taylor Ignaszewski finished third at 171 taking down Scott West&8217;s sixth-ranked Peter Eischens in the third place match 3-0.

&8220;Matt and Beau were both second seeds and that is where they finished, and both Taylor and Eric wrestled well and finished higher than their seeds,&8221; Goodnature said.

Bradon Reyerson finished seventh at 215 for the Tigers and Zak Drescher was sixth at heavyweight.

&8220;We went into the seeding meetings thinking we wouldn&8217;t be able to get them seeded and yet they continue to wrestle very well,&8221; Goodnature said. &8220;They both had great tournaments, and we had several kids that didn&8217;t place but scored big points for us.

&8220;Some of our kids that maybe didn&8217;t finish where they wanted need to bring intensity to every match and wrestle with that never quit attitude.&8221;

The Tigers are now preparing for The Clash dual tournament Dec. 29 and 30 in Rochester. It brings together 32 of the top teams in the nation making it one of the most competitive dual tournaments in the country.

&8220;I want to put my kids against the toughest competition so they are ready to go when sections and state rolls around,&8221; Goodnature said.