After the Austin wrestling team won its school record 17th dual meet last week, the team turned its eyes toward a different prize.

Tuesday, February 15, 2000

After the Austin wrestling team won its school record 17th dual meet last week, the team turned its eyes toward a different prize.

"Right now," said T.J. Parlin, the team’s unbeaten 103 pounder (22-0), "we’re going to focus on the team sections and work on getting this team to state."

The road to state was laid out for Austin on Monday, when the team received the fourth seed in the 11-team Section 1AAA dual tournament that begins Thursday.

It came as no surprise that unbeaten Owatonna (37-0) earned the top seed, with No. 2 going to Lakeville (17-6).

Austin coach Bill Kinney, who had been hoping for a No. 3 seed, attended the seeding meeting on Monday in Rochester.

Kinney’s Packers (17-4) fell to fourth after Faribault was given nod at No. 3. The Falcons’ 15-7 record doesn’t match up with Austin’s, but in a head-to-head dual earlier this season the Falcons nipped the Packers.

Austin will host a quarterfinal match with No. 5 Albert Lea on Thursday at 7 p.m. in Ove Berven Gym.

In other matches, Owatonna will host the winner of No. 8 Farmington (9-13) vs. No. 9 John Marshall (4-19).

Faribault will host the winner of No. 6 Northfield (14-8) vs. No. 11 Century (1-19).

Finally, Lakeville hosts the winner of No. 7 Winona (7-12) vs. No 10 Mayo.

The Farmington/JM, Winona/Mayo, and Northfield/Century matches will be wrestled at 6 p.m. Thursday at the sites of the three higher host seeds. The winners of those matches then wrestle the high seeds at 7:45 p.m.

By getting the fourth seed, Austin too was assured of a home match at Ove Berven Gym.

"The gym means so much to our kids," Kinney said last week. "They love the atmosphere."

Earlier this season, Austin beat the Tigers in Albert Lea, 35-24.

Following Thursday’s extensive action, the four survivors will meet on Saturday in Rochester at the Mayo Civic Center.

If everything plays out according to seeding, Austin would face Owatonna in one semifinal and Faribault and Lakeville would meet in the other. Semifinal matches will be held at 1 p.m. with the Section 1AAA championship match set for 5 p.m. The winner of that match earns a state berth.

Next week, the Section 1AAA individual tournament will be held.