Albert Lea senior Trevor Rasmussen concluded his wrestling career in the best possible way with a victory Saturday at the Class 3A state tournament at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul for a fifth-place finish.

Rasmussen was one of two Tigers who finished the year with a victory and he showed he learned from his previous matches to reach the podium.

Rasmussen, ranked seventh at 140 pounds, wrestled with determination throughout the state tournament and wrestled with purpose to place in his final state tournament.

Rasmussen earned a 5-4 decision against Centennial’s Andre Dorschner in the fifth-place match to finish the season with a 35-11 record and made up for a disappointing appearance last season when he lost his only match by fall.

“I think it had a lot to do with it being my last year,” said Rasmussen of his performance. “You can only wrestle in high school once. I kept trying to realize that.”

Rasmussen needed a third-period escape to beat Dorschner after Dorschner tied the match in the second period with a near fall and nearly picked up more points when he had Rasmussen on his back temporarily.

After struggling to find an escape against Hastings’ Zach Rohr in the championship quarterfinals in a 2-1 overtime loss Rasmussen found one in his final match.

“He had a fantastic tournament,” said Albert Lea head coach Larry Goodnature. “He came within a whisker of being in the finals. I’m really happy for him.”

Goodnature sat matside for all of Rasmussen’s matches at the state tournament and looked as intense as Rasmussen throughout.

“I’ve been very privileged to coach him for the last four years,” Goodnature said. “I think he’ll definitely be proud of his accomplishments in his high school wrestling career.”

Sixth-ranked sophomore Dalton Westerlund joined Rasmussen as the only Tigers to find victories in their final matches. Westerlund caught Eden Prairie’s Tony Skjefte in a half nelson near the edge of the mat to record a fall in 2:35 to improve to 34-11 on the season.

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“I tell you what, he’s got one of the nicest half nelsons in the state,” Goodnature said of Westerlund. “When he gets that one it’s pretty hard to stop it. I’m sure he (Skjefte) didn’t realize that he had a half nelson.”

Westerlund concluded his second varsity season with a fifth-place finish to couple with his fourth-place finish from a year ago.

Fourth-ranked Cory Hansen met Hastings’ Colton LaChance for the second time in the tournament Saturday for third place, but couldn’t get past LaChance in a 10-5 loss and a fourth-place finish

Hansen (40-6) placed for the third consecutive season and said he wrestled a better match with LaChance the second time around.

“I kind of tried to think about what he was doing and see what I could do to counter it,” Hansen said. “I was more comfortable in this match than I was in the last match.”

Hansen scored more takedowns but LaChance effectively countered his other attempts to beat him for the third time this season.

Freshman Lucas Hansen concluded his first state tournament experience with a sixth-place finish after a 6-4 loss to Cole Sladek of St. Michael-Albertville in the fifth-place match.

Hansen had a 3-2 lead going into the third period but Sladek got two takedowns in the final period to prevail.

With the exception of Rasmussen, Albert Lea returns three state placewinners, one more than it did at the start of the year.

“All the kids had a good tournament,” Goodnature said. “(We’ll) see what we can do in the offseason and work hard to improve. Come back next year and make some noise.”