The Packer boys will be well represented at the Class ‘A’ state swimming and diving meet this week and they’re not just happy to be there.

Austin will have seven athletes competing in nine different events at the meet, which begins Thursday with the diving preliminaries at noon and continues Friday with the swimming preliminaries at noon. The finals will be held Saturday at noon and all events will be held at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center in Minneapolis.

The Packers have a great chance of competing on Saturday as they are seeded better than 16th in seven swimming events, with two relay teams seeded in the top five, and senior diver Alec Anderson has a solid chance of getting to the diving finals as well.

“It’s exciting,” senior Ian Christopherson, who will be swimming at state for the third time, said. “I think this year we can definitely do some damage at state. I’m hoping to finish higher and break some more records. Overall this could be one of our most successful seasons ever.”

Last year the Packers took fifth in the 200-yard freestyle relay and and the 400-yard freestyle relay at state. Ian Christopherson and Craig Heimark are the two returnees from those teams. Sawyer Myers has stepped up on both relays, Seth Clasen is swimming on the 200-relay and Isaac Christopherson is on the 400-relay this season.

Last year’s 200-relay team set a school record, but this year’s team is a second and a half off of that mark as it prepares to swim even faster at state.

“I think we’re looking to make it a better year and we have a lot of goals we want to accomplish at state,” Myers, who will be swimming at state for the second time, said. “It’s been a fun year because our team is a lot closer than it has been in the past.”

Clasen said the Packers have grown faster this season because they have so many good swimmers in practice, where even a regular workout can sometimes turn into an intense race.

“Every thing that we do, we always push each other. Every practice is a competition,” Clasen, who will be swimming in his second state meet, said. “I’m going to go after it [at state] because we have a fighting chance of doing stuff in the relay. I understand more after going last year. I know what I want to get.”

Heimark, a sophomore, already broke the AHS school record for the 100-yard freestyle this season and he has come to close to breaking the 200-yard freestyle record as well. He will swim in both of those events and both relays at state.

“It’s better [going to state] this year because no one knew what to expect this year,” said Heimark, who is headed to state for the third time. “All of the sudden the times started to come down and everybody started pushing themselves harder.”

Anderson is going to take on the state diving meet for the first time in his career and he’s been waiting for this chance for the past three years. Austin competes in one of the more difficult sections for diving, so Anderson had to work hard just to get to state.

“All of that hard work finally paid off. We have some of the best divers around and it’s quite an accomplishment to come out of this section,” Anderson said. “‘I’m nervous but I think it’s a good nervous. I’m ready to go and do what I need to do.”

Anderson said the whole team gave him a lift at the Section 1A meet.

“They were all standing there watching me and I felt like I wasn’t doing it for just me, I was doing it for my whole team,” Anderson said. “They had supported me all year and it was time to for me give back to them and join them at the state meet.”

The Packers will have two first time state qualifiers swimming at the meet. Ben Walker worked his way up from being relatively unknown early in the season to being a state qualifier this season in the 100-yard butterfly. Walker isn’t feeling any nerves and he’s just hoping to do his best in his first state meet.

“This is definitely the reward for me,” Walker said. “It’s what I’ve worked for all season and I can’t wait for it. I don’t know much about it, but I’m assuming it’ll be a little like true team state with faster swimmers.”

Eighth grader Isaac Christopherson is following in his big brother Ian’s footsteps by getting to state. Isaac said his big brother has helped him out a lot this season.

“Outside of the pool he’s always telling me to me to work hard and in the pool he always helps me too,” Isaac said. “I’m really excited for state and a lot of its also nervousness.”

Ian said his little brother has come a long way this season.

“He’s stepped up a lot. A few years ago he was pretty much your average swimmer and now he’s going to state,” he said.

SEEDINGS

200-freestyle: Craig Heimark is seeded 10th out of 22 swimmers with a qualifying time of 1:49.13.

200-individual medley: Sawyer Myers is seeded 19th out of 24 swimmers with a qualifying time of 2:07.05.

50-yard freestyle: Ian Christopherson is seeded 7th out of 21 swimmers with a qualifying time of 22.32.

100-butterfly: Ben Walker is seeded 13th out of 25 swimmers with a qualifying time of 55.37.

100-freestyle: Heimark is seeded 7th out of 21 swimmers with a qualifying time of 49.12.

500-yard freestyle: Myers is seeded 14th out of 34 swimmers with a qualifying time of 5:04.64. Isaac Christopherson is seeded 23rd with a qualifying time of 5:07.47.

200-freestyle relay: The team of Heimark, Seth Clasen, Myers and Ian Christopherson is seeded 4th out of 23 teams with a qualifying time of 1:31.13.

400-freestyle relay: The team of Heimark, Isaac Christopherson, Myers, Ian Christopherson is seeded 5th out of 24 teams with a qualifying time of 3:20.00.

Top 8 advance to finals: 9-16 advance to consolation finals.