They’re headed back to state again.

The Austin Packer dance team clinched its ninth straight trip to the Class ‘AA’ state dance meet at the Section 1AA meet in Packer Gym Saturday.

The Packers took second in the High Kick Division, with the top three teams advancing to state and they just missed a state berth in the Jazz Division, where they took fourth out 14 teams.

“We did well because we’re a strong kicking team,” Austin head coach Jennifer Sims said. “But it was a little bit of an off day for us. We hope to put together a better performance at state.”

While getting to state for almost a decade straight is quite an accomplishment, it is never easy for Austin.

“It makes it even harder for us because everyone sort of expects it from us,” said senior Laura Astrup, who will be making her fifth trip to state. “We have to push ourselves every year to go there and to keep reaching that level is really exciting for us.”

Hosting the section meet gave the Packers a little nerves but it was also comforting.

“It was almost overwhelming,” said senior Sara Alms, who is making her fifth trip to state. “The crowd was big and it felt like we were already at state. It was a nice feeling.”

Austin will compete in the Target Center in Minneapolis Saturday at 2:15 p.m. in the preliminaries. If Austin reaches the finals, it will compete again at 7:15 p.m.

The Packers are hoping to advance to the finals.

“We’re going to work extremely hard this week and we know we’ve got the capability to do well this year,” Alms said.

Sims said hosting the section meet was made easier by all the dance parents who helped out.

“We couldn’t have done it without them and we’ve got some fantastic parents,” she said.

RESULTS

High Kick

1. Holy Angels

2. Austin

3. Benilde-St. Margaret’s

Jazz

1. Benilde-St. Margaret’s

2. Holy Angels

3. South St. Paul