MINNEAPOLIS — Austin senior Ian Christopherson got out of the pool after the 200-yard freestyle relay and took a look at the scoreboard at the Class ‘A’ state swimming and diving meet at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center Saturday.

He liked what he saw.

Christopherson and his relay teammates sophomore Craig Heimark, sophomore Seth Clasen and junior Sawyer Myers had just broken their own school record by more than a second and they had taken third place in the state meet.

“I think the reason we got third is we didn’t think about who we needed to beat or where we should place, we just came in to have fun,” Christopherson said. ‘That’s exactly what we did and it turned out great. I didn’t want to make a big deal about it. I’m more reserved and I don’t like showing off at all.”

The Packers were also on the podium in three other events as Christopherson took sixth in the 50-yard freestyle, Heimark took eighth in the 100-yard freestyle and the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Heimark, Isaac Christopherson, Myers and Ian Christopherson took fifth.

Clasen was ecstatic after the 200-relay as the team had gone into state hoping to set a new school record and get on the podium.

“It’s amazing and this is probably the coolest thing I’ve ever gotten,” Clasen said of his medal. “I didn’t expect it to happen my sophomore year and I’m more than honored. We were ranked fourth and we knew we were a lot better than that. We went out and proved it. We not only crushed our own record by a full second, but we up-seeded a position and we were all pumped about that.”

Heimark said the team was focused on doing as good as they could and the team did just that. The 200-freestyle relay team put up a time of 1:28.08 and the 400-freestyle relay team swam a time of 3:17.66.

“Going into it we just said let’s swim and let’s see how we come out,” Heimark said. “We worked a lot harder in practice this year and now we know that being that good before tapering helps you get even better.”

Myers said the team’s success on Saturday has him pumped up for next season already.

“It’s a really good experience and it has me motivated for next year,” he said. “We just swam and left it out in the pool.”

Austin eighth grader Isaac Christopherson had to wait the entire state meet by the time he was able to swim in the 400-freestyle relay. He proved the state meet wasn’t too big for him as he was up to the challenge.

“It was really nerve racking and I didn’t have any events before this,” he said. “The guys helped keep me calm.”

Austin senior Alec Anderson finished his diving career with a 10th place finish as he scored a 328.80. Anderson was pleased with how he did on Saturday, but he said his preliminary dives probably kept him from getting on the podium.

“On my last three dives I came out and gave it my best. I’m really proud of how I ended it here,” Anderson said. “On Thursday I had a rough day and you can’t really do anything about it. I came out today and finished well.”

Ian Christopherson was on the podium three times in his final meet for the Packers. He finds it hard to believe that it was his last high school meet.

“I honestly still can’t comprehend it,” Christopherson said. “I’ve grown up with these people and it feels weird that I’m not going to swim with them again.”

The Packers finished eighth out of 33 teams at state with a score of 106. St. Thomas Academy won the meet with a score of 417.

AUSTIN RESULTS

200-freestyle: Craig Heimark (16th, 1:57.05)

200-individual medley: Sawyer Myers (12th, 2:05.09)

50-freestyle: Ian Christopherson (sixth, 21.89)

Diving: Alec Anderson (10th, 328.80)

100-butterfly: Ben Walker (13th, 54.89)

100-freestyle: Craig Heimark (eigihth, 49.16)

500-freestyle: Sawyer Myers (12th, 4:58.26)

200-freestyle relay: Craig Heimark, Seth Clasen, Sawyer Myers, Ian Christopherson (third, 1:28.08)

400-freestyle relay: Craig Heimark, Isaac Christopherson, Sawyer Myers, Ian Christopherson (fifth, 3:17.66)