50 years ago: 1966

In the final game of the West Sub-District high school basketball tournament, Blooming Prairie defeated Ellendale 72-53 to win the title. Steve Fritz scored 14 points and Larry Worke 12 for the winners. Daryl Paulsen led the Raiders with 15 points.

Blooming Prairie defeated Austin 76-65 to win the District 2 title and advanced to Region 1. Fritz led Blooming Prairie with 27 points and Bob Tonolli added 22 points.

Albert Lea High School won its first Minnesota state wrestling title with 44 points to a runner-up 28 points by Hopkins. Mark Allen won the 103-pound title. Bob Hatch finished runner-up at 112, and Ken Stencel at 138 and Chuck Jean at 165  won the consolation titles for the Tigers.

Bob Prange scored 23 points for Wells in its District 5 win over Kiester 88-48.

 

25 years ago: 1991

ALHS senior Ben Berhow won the Minnesota state wrestling heavyweight title when he pinned Kyle Richardson of Centennial in 1:52 of the first round. The Tigers were defeated by Apple Valley 35-22 to win the state team title.

The Alden-Conger boys’ basketball team advanced to the semi-final round of sub-section after defeating Truman 64-59. Jordan Montes scored 24 points for A-C.

The NRHEG girls’ basketball team trailed Hayfield by 13 points with 12 minutes remaining, but rallied to win 58-52 in the district semi-final game. Tracie Nelson scored 25 points and Brittany Hansen 16 for the Cardinals.

 

10 years ago: 2006

Jon Schmitz, head coach of the ALHS swimming and diving team, was named the 1990-1991 Section 1 Coach of the Year. Schmitz was a graduate of ALHS in 1979 and attended Bemidji State, where he was a two-time All-American and earned four varsity letters.

The ALHS boys’ basketball team finished its season with a 6-17 record after losing to Eagan 72-58 in the Region 1AA playoffs. Leading the Tigers were Jon Cluppert with 17 points, Chad Hintz with 16 and Paul Bisek with 11 rebounds.