ROCHESTER — The Albert Lea wrestling team on Friday advanced nine wrestlers to the semifinals of the Section 1AAA individual tournament’s at the Rochester Civic Center.

Less than a week after falling to Owatonna in the team semifinals, the Tigers were well represented atop the individual brackets, receiving five No. 1 seeds and three No. 2s. It took advantage, sending all eight within a win of the finals, along with fourth-seeded Dustin Samudio.

No. 1-ranked and top-seeded Trevor Westerlund was the lone Tiger to wrestle two matches and beat Winona’s Tristan Drazkowski 18-2 by technical fall and pinned Faribault’s Josh Amacher at 106 pounds.

Second-seeded Garrett Wangsness (113) pinned Rochester John Marshall’s Jesse Hanson in 45 seconds, and second-seeded Dakota Wangsness (120) pinned Northfield’s Travis White in 1:06.

The Tigers’ Lucas Hansen received a top seed at 126 pounds and won a 14-2 decision over Hastin’s Jake Spitzack.

Devin Nelson (132) was the first Tiger to lose, falling 5-2 to Rochester Mayo’s Brady Nelson in the quarterfinals. Nelson tied the match at 2-2 during the third period, but the Spartan notched back points late and held on to win.

Devin beat John Marshall’s Andrew Moore 14-2 to reach Saturday’s wrestlebacks semifinals.

Derick Samudio (138) was pinned by Northfield’s Adam Woitalla in the quarterfinals and eliminated by Faribault’s Trevor Morris in the wrestlebacks.

Albert Lea’s third-seeded Brody Sundbald lost the biggest upset on Friday when he was edged 6-4 by Northfield’s Sam Olson in the quarterfinals on a takedown with 30 seconds left. Sundblad then pinned Winona’s Chris Wisted in the wrestlebacks.

Top-seeded Triston Westerlund (152) pinned Mayo’s Ryan Motley in 1:51, and his brother, top-seeded Dalton (160), pinned Northfield’s Shane Peterson in 48 seconds.

No. 1-seeded Trey Hable (170) received two byes to start the tournament and faced John Marshall’s Kenny Maclin in the semifinals on Saturday, and fourth-seeded Dustin Samudio (182) pinned Winona’s Josh Kruger in 58 seconds.

At 195 pounds, Jace Talamantes was pinned by Mayo’s second seed Justin Carr in 3:09 before pinning Rochester Century’s Daniel Lopez in the wrestlebacks.

Tayler Blake was pinned by Owatonna’s No. 1 seed Coyte Kuefner in 2:43, and heavyweight Bryce DeBoer pinned Northfield’s Tyler VanCleave in 58 seconds.