The Albert Lea wrestling team advanced eight wrestlers to the semifinals of the Section 1AAA meet Friday at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester.

Lucas Hansen, Trey Hable, Dalton Westerlund, Cory Hansen, Trevor Rasmussen, Caleb Gaudian all had no problem advancing to the semifinals as they all won by fall. Connor and Carter Kortan also advanced to the semifinals, but neither had a match on the first day.

“It went about as I expected with the seedings and everything,” said Albert Lea head coach Larry Goodnature.

The semifinals begin at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Eighth-ranked Lucas Hansen will wrestle John Marshall’s Carter Williamson in the 103-pound semifinals while fourth-ranked Trey Hable will wrestle Austin’s Alex Amrich at 125.

Sixth-ranked Dalton Westerlund will wrestle Faribault’s Josh Palmer in the 130 semis, fourth-ranked Cory Hansen will face Mankato West’s Alex Thompson at 135 semis, seventh-ranked Trevor Rasmussen faces Faribault’s Matt Purfeerst at 140, Carter Kortan gets previously 10th-ranked Howie Underwood from Austin at 145, Connor Kortan will wrestle Mankato West’s Tyler Jakes at 160 and Caleb Gaudian will face Austin’s Michael Hirsch, who is ranked No. 1 at 189.

Three Albert Lea wrestlers remain in the wrestlebacks. Garrett Wangsness fell to Austin’s Brennen Russell at 112 pounds when Russell got Wangsness in a headlock in the final minute of the match and picked up a fall with 42 seconds remaining.

“When you’re ahead and there’s a few seconds left in the match, they’re going to try to throw you,” Goodnature said. “They locked in underhooks and he got tossed.”

Wangsness pinned Rochester Mayo’s Devon Patton and beat John Marshall’s Tony Latwesen 15-4 in his next match. Wangsness will face the loser of Mankato West’s Zack Lowe and Faribault’s Brandon Peters for a chance to advance to the third-place match and possibly a true second match if he wins the third-place match for a trip to state.

Mitch Webb lost 7-5 in overtime to Faribault’s Mat Becker in the first round, but beat Rochester Century’s Erich Moyer 11-4 in wrestlebacks. Webb will face the loser of the semifinals.

Alex Nielsen lost 4-2 in overtime to Austin’s Brett Kraemer but beat John Marshall’s Austin Minea by fall in wrestlebacks.