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Sports Memories by Tom Jones

10 years

• Albert Lea’s Preston Smith placed 11th at the Class A Swimming and Diving State Meet with a personal best time of 55.49 in the 100-yard butterfly.
• The Alden-Conger girls basketball team lost to Mankato Loyola 80-45 in the second round of the Section 2A tournament. Liesel Theusch led the Knights with 18 points and Brittany Waters added 13.
• Kevin Love scored 33 points and added 19 rebounds as the Minnesota Timberwolves picked up their third straight win when they defeated the Denver Nuggets 132-128.
• Albert Lea boys’ hockey coach Roy Nystrom was being inducted into the Minnesota Hockey Coaches Hall of Fame. He was being inducted with Rochester
• Mayo coach and former Minnesota Gopher teammate Lorne Grosso.

20 years

• Albert Lea Tiger swimmer Mitch Johnson won the 100-yard freestyle in the Section 1A Boys’ Swimming and Diving meet held at Inver Grove Heights to advance to state.
• Adam Elseth, Randy Larson and Chris Hable all earned first place finishes at the Section 1AAA wrestling meet at the Mayo Civic Center and were advancing to the state tournament.
• NRHEG wrestlers Anders Mattson, Nick Christenson and Matt Holland all took home first place finishes at the Section 2A meet to advance to the state tournament.
• Rochester Mayo graduate Michael Restovich, who was a second-round pick of the Minnesota Twins in the 1997 draft was competing for an outfield spot with the team at their spring training headquarters in Fort Myers, Florida.

50 years

• Powerful Fairmont defeated the Albert Lea High School gymnastics team 110.13-73.79. Tim Flugum picked up first place on the rings with a score of 6.2. Carl Jacobson placed fourth on the vault with a score of 4.7.
• Faron Bremseth’s shot at the buzzer bounced off the rim and sent Glenville to an 88-87 loss at the hands of Emmons in a District II basketball game played at the Ove Berven Gym in Austin. Gay Iverson scored 22 points for the Eagles with John Yost adding 19. Craig Rayman had 37 to lead the Trojans.
• Tony Politz of the Alden-Conger Blackhawks basketball team captured the individual scoring title in the Border League with an average of 19.5 points per game. He was also named to the All-Conference team.
• Bill Laumann’s b-squad basketball team ended their season when they were defeated by Rochester Mayo 42-34. Rich Wendorff led the Bengals with 24 points. The team finished the season with a 13-5 record,
• In the YMCA elementary basketball league, the Cougars defeated the Nets 34-24. Dave Shoff had 18 points and Mike Schwartz added 16 in the win.
• The Washington Redskins announced that quarterback Joe Theisman had signed a three-year contract with the team after beginning his professional career in the Canadian Football League.
• Minnesota Fighting Saint Mike Walton reached the 40-goal plateau for the team as he scored three goals in the Saints 5-3 win over the Los Angeles Sharks at the St. Paul Civic Center.
• Albert Lea’s Tom Jean placed fourth for Iowa State in the Big Eight Wrestling Tournament held in Norman Oklahoma.
• Ray Keating of Albert Lea took first place for 13- and 14-year-old swimmers in the 200 Individual Medley at the Albert Lea Tiger Sharks meet that was held at the high school pool. Scott Butt took first in the 50 backstroke in the 8 and under group.

A fun fact

The oldest trophy on display outside the Orrie Jirele gym at Albert Lea High School is from the state champion basketball team of 1919.