There was bedlam at the pool in Ellis Middle School last Friday and it wasn’t just the state qualifying athletes who were doing the celebrating.

The whole Austin swimming and diving team got together after their second place finish in the Section 1A swimming and diving meet and they let out a rallying cry that drowned out the crowd that had been keeping Ellis alive with excitement throughout the night.

The Packers even looked more pumped up than Red Wing, which took first and earned a trip to state as a team.

People in street clothes were being thrown in the pool, swimmers were doing cannon ball dives, and there were plenty of random screams and high fives being exchanged.

In other words it was just what high school sports are all about — competing hard and having a good time.

Most of the athletes in the celebration just had their individual season’s end, but they couldn’t care less.

They had five of their own moving on to state and they went out with the Packers’ best performance in the past seven years at the section meet.

Part of the motivation for such joy probably came from Austin’s youth — the team has 46 athletes who will be back next season with a lot of sophomores, freshman and middle schoolers in the mix. They know they will be back and they feel themselves getting better.

It’s an exciting thought, and things could be on the rise for the Austin swimmers and divers as those athletes mature and get stronger.

Maybe next year we’ll see some coaches jumping in the pool.