Through the early part of the season the Albert Lea boys’ track and field team has shown glimpses of its potential and the Tigers continued to do so Friday at Waseca.

Albert Lea finished three points behind meet winner Waseca, but had several opportunities to overtake the Bluejays.

The Tigers won five events, including three field events en route to 106 points.

“I’m absolutely thrilled with the way the things are coming along,” said Albert Lea head coach Lisa Deyak. “We’re significantly stronger than we have been in the last five years.”

The Tigers have shown depth in several events thus far and did so once again.

Albert Lea took the top three spots in the 300-meter hurdles when senior Lars Gjersvik won the event with a time of 46.04 seconds. Sophomore Brody Sunblad took second with a time of 46.15 and junior Dan Edwards placed third with a time of 47 seconds.

Junior Alik Smed won the high jump by clearing 5 feet, 10 inches and later added a third-place finish in the long jump and ran a leg on the 4×100 relay, which finished second.

“He’s been competing really well and he’s been scoring in a lot of areas for us,” Deyak said.

Sophomore Bryce DeBoer won the shot put with a throw of 44 feet, 2 inches and junior Tommy Tiegs won the long jump.

Albert Lea closed the meet out with a victory in the 4×400 relay team. The team of Sean Laurie, Kyle Kriewall, Sunblad and Gjersvik won with a time of 3:44.21.

“We just had a really solid day,” Deyak said. “We had lots of good performances.”

Lindell sets school record in discus

The New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva boys’ track and field team placed fourth overall with 57 points and was led by seniors David Lindell and Kevin Klocek.

Lindell set a new school record in the discus with a throw of 161 feet, 7 inches to win the event and Klocek won two events for the Panthers.

Klocek won the 100 with a time of 11.32 and added a victory in the 200 with a time of 23.46.

“Kevin Klocek is having an incredible rookie season,” said NRHEG head coach Duey Ferber. “He is undefeated in the 100 and 200. He is fun to watch.”

Tony Wacholz added a pair of second-place finishes with his performance in the shot put and the discus.