Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Sports Memories by Tom Jones

15 years

• The Alden-Conger football team advanced to the state tournament with an 18-0 victory over Nicollet in the Section 2 Championship. Lucas Kleinschrodt, David Troska and E. J. Knight scored touchdowns in the win.
• The University of Minnesota announced that it had sold all of its suites at the new TCF Stadium that was set to be open in the fall of 2009. The 54 suites, which held four to six people each sold for $10,000 to $15,000 for the season.
• Albert Lea’s Chrissy Monson competed in her first girls’ cross country state meet and finished in 28th place with a time of 15.07.5. Ethan Marquardt placed 27th for the Tigers in the boys’ meet with a time of 16.13.1.
• Albert Lea swimmers Galen Schulz, Bria Schreiber and Amanda Walters received All-Conference honors for their performances at the Big Nine Girls’ Swimming and Diving meet held in Rochester.
• Dirk Nowitzki’s 21 points led the Dallas Mavericks to a 95-85 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in front of 16,893 fans at Target Center. Both teams stood at 1-1 on the season.

20 years

• Albert Lea Tigers volleyball player Amber Edwards was voted to the Big Nine All-Conference team with Katie and Jenna Brackey being named honorable mention.
• St. John’s football coach John Gagliardi tied Eddie Robinson as college football’s all-time victory leader with a 15-12 win over St. Thomas.
• Albert Lea senior soccer player Jeremy Jacobson was named to the Big Nine All-Conference boys’ soccer team with Jake Levisen and Justin McGinnis being named honorable mention.
• Albert Lea’s Leah Matheson placed second in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:11.87 and Samantha Cole placed sixth in the 50 freestyle with a time of 25.3 to advance to the Minnesota State Girls’ Swimming and Diving Meet.

50 years

• Rollie Neist of Albert Lea was about to begin his junior season on the St. Cloud State gymnastics team. He competed in the all-around event for the Huskies.
• Former Glenville football player Bill Severtson was out for the year for the Augustana football team as he broke his right leg below the knee in a game against South Dakota State.
• The Albert Lea b-squad gymnastics team defeated Rochester John Marshall. Lori Loesch won the uneven bars event with Denise Driesbach taking second.
• Minnesota Twins slugger Harmon Killebrew wasn’t communicating with Twins President Calvin Griffith after he received a three-year contract offer with an annual salary of $60,000, which was a sharp reduction of his previous year’s salary of $105,000.
• Dennis Hextall scored the winning goal with 2:11 to go in the game to give the Minnesota North Stars a 5-4 win over the Chicago Black Hawks.

Football at The Gus
Albert Lea’s Jim Gustafson Field will be hosting the first round of the nine-man state football tournament on Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. The game will feature the champions of Section 1 and Section 3. According to the MSHSL web site, all tickets must be purchased online with adult tickets being $13 and students $9.