MINNEAPOLIS — The Austin swimming and diving team reached the podium eight times and the Packers put together three top-three finishes at the Minnesota Class A State Swimming and Diving Meet on the campus of the University of Minnesota at Jean K Freeman Pool Saturday.

Austin’s best finish was its first race of the day as the 200-yard medley relay team of Rafe Dolan Peterson, Logan Kelly, Trey Myers and Aaron Knoll took second place with an All-American consideration time of 1:32.12. The Packers took .7 of a second off of their prelim time, but they couldn’t catch first place Breck-Blake, which put up a time of 1:32.66.

The same Packer foursome completed the day with a third place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

“It’s amazing,” said Knoll, a senior. “I look back at being in seventh grade and seeing all of these people competing hard at state and wishing I was here. To be here as an individual and with the relays, I couldn’t ask for a better finish.”

Kelly took third in the 100-yard breaststroke, where he swam a new AHS record time and All-American time of 55.19 seconds and he also took fourth in the 100-yard individual medley. 

Kelly was happy with what he did, but sad that he won’t be swimming with the three graduating seniors again.

“ I’m going to miss them a lot next year,” Kelly said. “Not only will our relays be way less good, but they were also part of my family on this team. It’s tough.”

Dolan Peterson took fifth in both the 100-yard butterfly and the 100-yard backstroke in his final competition for the Packers. It will not be Dolan Peterson’s last time swimming as he has committed to swim at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay next year.

“With our relays, I couldn’t have asked for better times or a better result. With my individuals, I kind of expected a little bit more of myself,” Dolan Peterson said. “It’s not nothing to worry about too much because I’ve got stuff to work on and I know that. It’ll be interesting to see what I can do in the next four years (at UW-GB).”

The Packers were hoping they could score their first state title since 2015, but the team had to settle for one of its best seasons in a very long time. Austin finished in sixth place in the team standings with a score of 157 and Breck-Blake won the meet with a 342.

“It was a fun meet,” Myers said. “I kind of wanted to do a little better, but I’m satisfied with how we did. It was nice knowing we went away with two school records in the relays.”

The Austin 200-yard medley relay team of Logan Kelly, Aaron Knoll, Trey Myers and Rafe Dolan Peterson receive their second place medals at the Minnesota Class A State Swimming and Diving Meet at the University of Minnesota Saturday. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com

AUSTIN RESULTS

200-medley relay: Rafe Dolan Peterson, Logan Kelly, Trey Myers, Aaron Knoll (second, 1:34.12)

200-freestyle: Trey Myers (15th, 1:51.24)

200-individual medley: Logan Kelly (fourth, 1:54.57)

50-yard freestyle: Aaron Knoll (12th, 22.29)

Diving: Riley Norton (sixth, 339.89)

100-butterfly: Rafe Dolan Peterson (fifth, 51.55); Trey Myers (seventh, 52.98)

100-backstroke: Rafe Dolan Peterson (fifth, 53.67)

100-breaststroke: Logan Kelly (third, 55.19)

400-freestyle relay: Rafe Dolan Peterson, Aaron Knoll, Trey Myers, Logan Kelly (third, 3:11.76)