The Packer swimmers had plenty of speed to spare at the Section 1A swimming and diving finals in Ellis Middle School Friday night.

When it was all said and done, Austin qualified two relay teams and three individuals for the Class ‘A’ state swimming and diving meet. A total of six swimmers will compete next Friday at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.

Eighth grader Helen Heimark had a huge night as she qualified for state in four events. She swam the state cut time in the 200-yard freestyle and the 500-yard-freestyle, and she was the anchor of the 200-yard medley relay team and the 200-yard freestyle relay team, which both qualified for state.

“It’s so exciting and I really, really wanted it,” Heimark said of her performance. “The adrenaline is still in me.”

Heimark’s most unexpected state qualification came in the 200-yard freestyle, where she was racing in the ‘B’ heat after not reaching the top eight on Wednesday. Heimark swam almost two full seconds under the state cut time to earn a trip to state and she even finished ahead of four of the swimmers in the ‘A’ bracket.

“When I finished ninth (on Wednesday), I thought I wouldn’t be able to make state cut since I was in the second heat.” Heimark said. “(Austin head coach Lynn Gulbrandson) told me I could still go to state without a medal if I got cut time. I figured I’d rather go to state than get a medal.”

The finish wasn’t without drama as Heimark’s electronic timer was broken and it took about five minutes before it was officially announced that she had beaten the cut time.

A moment of panic hit Heimark when she looked up and didn’t see a time by her lane on the scoreboard.

“I was sitting there hitting the box because I thought it wasn’t going to count,” she said. “But when I looked up as I finished, I saw it flash 2:01. I knew I had it, but it was still super nerve racking.”

For Austin junior Averi Splinter, it wasn’t whether or not she would make it to state – she will be making her fifth trip to the state meet and her preliminary time was the fastest in the 100-yard butterfly preliminary – it was how fast?

Splinter flew down the home stretch in the 100-yard butterfly finals to take first and break the Austin High School record with at time of 58.71 seconds. She finished almost a full second faster than the second place finisher, Northfield’s Emily Anderson.

“I had kind of a bad race on Wednesday and I just wanted to come out tonight and swim the way I know I can. It just happened,” Splinter said. “(Going to state) never gets old. The section meet is the best meet, because this is our pool. It’s our house. But state is the most fun.”

Splinter was instrumental in getting the 200-yard medley relay team to state for the third consecutive year. The team, which also includes Heimark, Kelli Bednar, and Brooke Johnson, trailed by almost two full seconds halfway through the race when Splinter turned on the jets to give Heimark about a half second lead for the last leg.

“It was great coming back to win this one,” Bednar said of the relay win. “It’s fun to win it (at sections), because you know there’s a lot of swimmers out there just as fast as you.”

The 200-yard medley relay team has the same swimmers as it did last season when it went to state, but this year it’s qualifying time is about one and a half seconds faster.

Johnson, who is making her third trip to state, also got back into the state meet individually. She took second in the 100-yard backstroke and was over two seconds below the state cut time.

“In prelims I completely blew away the cut time,” Johnson said. “So I was pretty confident if I didn’t screw it up tonight, I would be good.”

Johnson had hoped to break the school record, but she ended up six-tenths of a second short of that mark.

“I guess I’ll go for it at state,” she said.

While five of Austin’s six qualifying swimmers are making return trips to state, sophomore Lauren Edwards is making her first ever trip as she was part of the state qualifying 200-yard freestyle relay, which also includes Heimark, Bednar, and Splinter.

“I’m ecstatic and it’s overwhelming,” Edwards said. “The other girls kind of helped me out for the race.”

The team took sixth, but was .11 seconds under the state cut time after shaving a half second off its preliminary time.

“We were thinking we had a real good chance (of getting to state) because we were so close in prelims,” Edwards said. “We all just had to cut off three-tenths of a second and we did that.”

Austin eighth grader Sela Fadness took sixth in diving and eighth grader Merideth Fritz took seventh in the 200-yard individual medley.

The Packers took fourth as a team in Section 1A with a score of 238.5, while Northfield won the meet with a team score of 397.

The Class ‘A’ girls swimming preliminaries will take place Friday at noon at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center in Minneapolis. The finals will take place Saturday at noon.

AUSTIN RESULTS

200-yard medley relay: Brooke Johnson, Kelli Bednar, Averi Splinter, Helen Heimark (first, 1:53.36)

200-yard freestyle: Helen Heimark (ninth, 2:00.79); Lindsey Halsey (15th, 2:12.80); Amanda Zahradnik (16th, 2:12.92)

200-yard individual medley: Merideth Fritz (seventh, 2:26.07)

50-yard freestyle: Averi Splinter (10th, 25.81)

Diving: Sela Fadness (sixth, 326.00); Bailey Corey (16th, 209.25)

100-yard butterfly: Averi Splinter (first, 58.71); Emily McAlister (10th, 1:06.21); Brooke Johnson (11th, 1:06.33); Anna Smith (14th, 1:07.15)

100-yard freestyle: Kelli Bednar (14th, 57.79); Lauren Edwards (16th, 58.96)

500-yard freestyle: Helen Heimark (fifth, 5:32.30); Merideth Fritz (11th, 5:46.57); Amanda Zahradnik (12th, 5:48.26); Lindsey McAlister (16th, 6:08.13)

200-yard freestyle relay: Averi Splinter, Kelli Bednar, Lauren Edwards, Helen Heimark (sixth, 1:43.49)

100-yard backstroke: Brooke Johnson (second, 1:01.85); Lindsey Halsey (15th, 1:10.69)

100-yard breaststroke: Kelli Bednar (seventh, 1:14.27); Emily Johnson (12th, 1:17.17)

400-yard freestyle relay: Lauren Edwards, Merideth Fritz, Lindsey Halsey, Brooke Johnson (sixth, 3:57.65)