Wrestling: Albano, Elmer punch state tickets

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Nick Albano will have company on this year's trip to Xcel Energy Center.

The Farmington junior will be joined by sophomore teammate Carl Elmer when action gets under way Wednesday at the Class AAA State wrestling meet. Both wrestlers advanced with second-place finishes at Saturday's Section 1AA individual championships at Mankato West.

Last year, Albano earned a trip to state as a 23-12 heavyweight before bowing out with two straight losses. This time around, he will enter as one of the top seeds in the 215-pound division with a record of 32-4.

Albano opened the section meet with a first-round bye after earning the top seed, then beat Prior Lake's Aaron Johnson by a 4-2 decision. He then lost 14-3 to fifth-ranked Lakeville South standout Zane Peterson, but earned second when Johnson made his way back through the bracket.

Elmer will take a 28-8 mark into the 125-pound bracket. He went 3-1 at the section meet and advanced to state by winning the true second-place match 10-2 over Mankato West's Jake Mattison. Elmer opened with a pin and a decision before falling 6-2 to Prior Lake's Tyler Trattles in the finals.

Farmington's Kody Kary and Will Pauling both narrowly missed state berths, falling in their respective true second-place matches. Kary went 2-2 on the day and Pauling finished 3-2, losing his opening decision 6-5 before winning three straight to set up a true-second match.

Eric Adrian also went 2-2 at 152 pounds to earn fourth place. John Gardner went 2-2 to finish fifth at 160 pounds and Joey Liden (103 lbs.), Seth Franklin (119 lbs.), Josh Iverson (130 lbs.) and Tyler Williams (135 lbs.) failed to place.

The opening rounds of the Class AAA Tournament get underway at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Tags: class aaa state meet, sports, wrestling, farmington