Austin senior Nick Brehmer is no stranger to the Class ‘A’ state swimming and diving meet, which takes place in Minneapolis this Friday and Saturday.

However, Brehmer has been a stranger to the finals at state but he’s hoping to end that this weekend. Brehmer, who will be competing in his fourth state meet this weekend, will be representing the Packers in the 100-yard freestyle and 200-yard freestyle and he’s also a member of the 200-yard freestyle and the 400-yard freestyle relay teams.

Brehmer and his teammates are seeded in the top six or better in all four of the events he’s competing in so he has a pretty good shot swimming with the final eight for the first time in his career.

“Before we were always excited just to make it state,” Brehmer said. “Now we kind of expected to go to state and now we want to go for medals and be more competitive with some of the best kids around.”

Last year Brehmer was seeded eighth 200-yard freestyle and he missed out on the finals even after lowering his time. He was seeded 10th in the 100-yard freestyle and also missed the finals in that race.

“Everyone’s gonna drop time. It’s a fast pool and there’s a lot of excitement there,” Brehmer said. “I’ll have to work even harder.”

Brehmer, who also played soccer this fall and has played for the Packer tennis team, picked up swimming as a sixth grader and he’s never trained for the sport over the summer. Despite not training for swimming year round, he’s gotten better with every season.

“I was always worried that I’d kind of plateau sometime and I just wouldn’t get any better,” Brehmer said. “That hasn’t happened yet and hopefully I can keep dropping times.”

Brehmer has made the choice to become a college swimmer. Next fall, he’ll enroll at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and compete on its swim team.

Brehmer could’ve had a chance to play soccer at a smaller Division III school, but he’s learned to love the pool over the past few years.

“I love swimming almost as much as I do soccer,” he said.

Before his swimming career with the Packers is over, Brehmer would love to leave his name in the record books and get to the podium at the state meet. Brehmer’s 100-yard freestyle section time and the section time of both of his relays, which include Craig Heimark, Ian Christopherson and Carson Hackel are within a second of school records at Austin High School.

“They’re are all realistic,” Brehmer said at the opportunity of breaking a school record. “The guys on the relays are all talented and the really want it. We all have to swim our best. Sections is fun but state is a different level. We want to get up there with the best kids in the state and show that Austin is a solid swimming team.”