ST. PAUL — On a cold and rainy day, the Packer track and field team had a great showing at the Class ‘AA’ state meet finals in Hamline University in St. Paul Saturday.

All seven athletes made it to the podium in their event, just as they had been hoping to do.

“It was rainy and very cold, but that’s something we’re used to,” Austin head coach Tony Einertson said. “I’m pleased with how all of our kids did and I’m looking forward to see what the six juniors do next year.”

The 4 x 400-meter relay team composed of juniors Will Darling, Jacob Bentley, Tim Erickson and Henry Darling took fourth with a time of 3:25.07 — which was a bit slower than their time in the preliminaries, when they led the entire field.

“Coming in, we knew Friday would be a nicer day so we wanted to go for the school record that day. Some of the other teams ran an alternate on the first day, and we could’ve done that,” Einertson said. “But even if we ran Friday’s time on Saturday, it wouldn’t have made a difference in the standings.”

A team from Buffalo took first with a finals time of 3:21.76.

“They kind of rested in prelims, too,” Jacob Bentley said of the other teams in the field. “They didn’t go out as hard as they could.”

Still, the Packers were pleased with the performance as the 4 x 400 team had its best finish in 15 years at the state meet.

“We all ran our best and that’s all we really could do,” Will Darling said. “Really it came down to, we ran our best and everyone else ran their best too. Everything else turned out how it was supposed to. It’s kind of disappointing but we’re all returning which is going to help out next year.”

The rain was also in the back of the relay team’s mind as they exchanged hand-offs.

“It’s just like, ‘I hope the baton doesn’t slip out of my hand. I hope I don’t get too close to the bar.’,” Will Darling said.

The 4 x 400 team that took fourth at state only ran together four times all season as the Packers often shifted their lineup around to score more team points.

Will Darling took fifth in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 40.47 seconds.

He was able to avoid every hurdle, even though 15 of the 27 hurdles were knocked down in the first stretch and several runners hit the deck.

“It was so rainy. I couldn’t go out too fast because you could see by everyone else falling,” Will Darling said. “I just focused on staying on my feet because I noticed if I’d go out as hard as I could it was a little slippery and I didn’t want to risk it.”

Coming into the meet, Will Darling, who was seeded eighth, was hoping to be in the finals and he found himself as the fifth best 300-hurdler in the state.

“I’m happy with what I did this year in finals,” he said. “It’s a great experience. Mind you it’s not the greatest day, it’s still state and you go out and run your hardest against the best people in the state.”

James Butler of Tartan won the event with a time of 38.90 seconds.

Henry Darling took seventh in the 400-meter dash as he came in with a time of 50.56 seconds.

Troy Pollard of St. Paul High won the event with a time of 48.71 seconds.

The 4 x 800-meter relay team of Kyle Dammen, a senior, and juniors Jacob Larson, Christian Folken and Tim Erickson finished sixth, with a season-best time of 8:02.61. The team shaved about three seconds off its previous best time in the section meet.

“They did a fantastic job and they were just a second and a half from the school record,” Einertson said.

A team from Wyzata won the event with a time of 7:56.19.