Clash begins for Albert Lea
Published 8:21 am Thursday, January 7, 2010
Albert Lea head wrestling coach Larry Goodnature seeks out the best competition for his team to face year in and year out and this season the Tigers have one of their toughest schedules yet.
Albert Lea begins its most difficult part of the schedule Thursday against Mankato West at home and then travels to Rochester Friday and Saturday to participate in The Clash.
The eighth annual tournament attracts some of the best competition in the nation and bills itself as the National Wrestling Duals. Eight nationally ranked teams and 11 state championship teams make up part of the 32-team field and the Tigers get one of the best teams in the competition to begin the tournament.
The Albert Lea wrestling team, ranked seventh by The Guillotine, will face top-ranked Wisconsin Rapids, which is ranked 18th in the nation by Amateur Wrestling News, in the opening round of The Clash Friday in Rochester.
Wisconsin Rapids won the Wisconsin state title last season in Division I and features 13 ranked wrestlers, including three top-ranked wrestlers.
The Tigers are in bracket “D” along with Park Hill, the top-ranked team in Class 4A from Missouri, LaQuinta, a California team, Kasson-Mantorville, the fifth-ranked team in Class 2A, third-ranked St. Michael-Albertville and 11th-ranked Vacaville, from California.
Last season the tournament started on a sour note for Albert Lea as it dropped its first three duals, but the rest of the tournament served as a springboard for the rest of the season.
The Tigers were placed in the eighth bracket after going 0-3 the first day and went 3-0 to win the bracket and dropped just two duals the rest of the season, including the state championship dual to Apple Valley.
Goodnature sees the opportunity as a confidence builder no matter the outcome.
“When they can get over there and win some matches it gives them some confidence,” Goodnature said. “We could go over there and lose some matches and we don’t lose any confidence because we’re wrestling the best and we’re going to learn from losing.”
Wrestling some of the best in the nation this weekend might be a good thing because it comes prior to the biggest dual of the season, the Jan. 14 dual against Owatonna, which will likely determine the conference championship.
The Huskies moved up to No. 2 in the state by The Guillotine and remain the favorite on paper, but the Tigers haven’t lost to Owatonna in four years and Goodnature has seen the team make strides since the Christmas Tournament.
“I think we’ve made big leaps since the Christmas Tournament,” Goodnature said. “We’ve got to get all 14 of them to compete.”
Goodnature wasn’t pleased with the conditioning of the team after the Christmas Tournament and the practices have gotten better. The team has also focused to get more aggressive.
“We’ve been working all week and winter break about being aggressive a lot,” said Albert Lea senior Trevor Rasmussen, who is ranked third at 140. “We have to get that back.”
Now would be a good time to get that aggressiveness back because Albert Lea enters a stretch in the schedule where it doesn’t have a break from top competition.
Following the Owatonna dual the Tigers head to St. Cloud for the Kiffmeyer Duals where they have the possibility of facing Foley, No. 2 in Class 2A, St. Michael-Albertville, No. 3 in Class 3A, Hastings, No. 5 in 3A, Cambridge-Isanti, No. 4 in 3A, Sauk Rapids, St. Cloud Apollo, No. 10 in 3A, and St. Cloud Tech.