The Austin girls' 4×200-meter relay team is already guaranteed a top-eight finish at state, but the Packers don't intend to settle.

The AHS foursome of Staci Tucker, Emily Johnson, Jenny Tucker and Theresa Hirsch will run on the inside lane of an eight-team field at the 2003 Class AA State Track and Field Championships Saturday at the National Sports Center in Blaine. The team is hopeful for a top-five finish so they can bring home some hardware.

The Austin squad has showed considerable improvement since the postseason started, scoring a season-best time by more than one second in winning Austin's only Big Nine Conference championship. The trend continued into sections, when the Pack pounded the rest of the 1AA field and posted a new season-best 1 minute, 46.54 seconds.

"We really want to see them run a 1:46 flat," said AHS girls' coach Nancy Jones. "It's exciting. We've got lane one and we can see everybody from there, and that's kind of an advantage.

"If the exchanges are clean they're going to have a good day."

The Packers have been smooth in their past two races, continually improving as the importance of each race increases. Because no 4×200 teams qualified for state on time standard, only eight section champions will run in Saturday's 12:01 p.m. finals.

"Once we looked at it at conference, I think that (state) was when it first became an attainable goal," Jones said.

Austin embarrassed the rest of the Big Nine field, breaking the tape 1.5 seconds ahead of second-placed Albert Lea. The 4×200 relay is traditionally a close race, but the last two for Austin have been anything but.

"It was very surprising for us," said Johnson, one of two sophomores on the relay. "We were just happy with what we did.

"It's going to be interesting at state. A lot of teams are close to us in time."

The Packers are actually ranked seventh out of eight by section finals times, with none of last year's qualifying relay teams returning for 2003. Austin was seeded third heading into the Big Nine meet two weeks ago, but that was quickly alleviated with a first-place finish.

"It was our best time and all of us couldn't stop smiling," Johnson said. "We were kind of questioning if we would be able to do the same thing at sections, but we did. We're excited for state."

The lineup has not changed all season, starting with Staci Tucker, Johnson, Jenny Tucker and Hirsch. Staci Tucker also opens for the 4×100 team, giving her the experience out of the starting blocks. Johnson finished seventh in conference in the 200, while Jenny Tucker was 16th. Hirsch placed third both at conference and sections in the 100.

"Staci is a good starter and Emily is a good corner runner," Jones said. "Jenny covers a lot of ground. We could interchange any of them and still run the same time, they're so equal.

"Theresa has been traditionally one of our top sprinters, and Jenny really gives Theresa the baton in a good position."

Section 8 representative Rocori, Cold Spring enters state with the top time, logging a 1:44.65 to earn Lane 4. The Austin High School record is 1:44.7.

"Basically we're trying to hold the peak at this point," Jones said. "We need to stay motivated and work hard. We want to have good handoffs, run a good race and finish with our best time."