The Austin track and field will have a strong mix of athletes at the Class AA state track and field meet in Hamline University in St. Paul Friday and Saturday.

The Packer girls team has four individual qualifiers, which is them most the team has had in at least 15 years, and it has two senior school record holders making their first appearance in the state meet. The Packer boys will have a junior looking to improve in his second appearance at the state meet.

Austin senior Madison Overby holds the AHS school record in the 1600-meter run and the 3200-meter run and she won her first ever Big Nine titles in both of those events a week ago. Now the six-time Class AA state cross country qualifier will be competing in her first ever state track and field meet in the 3200-meter run. Overby, who will run at state Friday, had focused on the 1600-meter run this year, but she began running the 3200-meter run as well half way through the season.

“It’s mentally tough. You hate it during the middle,” Overby said of the 3200. “The Big Nine meet was definitely a confidence booster. I didn’t expect that much, I just wanted to go as fast as I could and I happened to have two good races against a lot of good competition.”

Overby, who will run at the University of North Dakota next season, is excited to finally run at state, but she’s a little emotional about it being her last run for the Packers.

“It’s crazy. It’s kind of hard to wrap my head around and I’m having my last few practices here,” Overby said. “It’s been a long run and I’ve been running cross country and track since I was in sixth grade. It’s going to be emotional after I finish.”

Austin senior Rachel Quandt, who will run at the University of South Dakota next season, is the two-time Big Nine champ in the 100-meter hurdles, but she’s making her first-ever trip to state in the event. Quandt re-set her school record in the Section 1AA meet and she’s hoping to run even faster at state.

“It’s my senior year and that makes it a lot better. I’ve been working so hard for it and I finally got it,” Quandt said about getting to state. “I want to try and run the best race I can on Friday. My goal is to get down to the high 14s and hopefully run [in the finals] on Saturday.”

The other two state qualifiers for the Austin girls — sophomore Sydney Marsh and junior Odongonga Oballa — are making their first ever appearances at state. Oballa will compete in the 400-meter run and Marsh will compete in the pole vault.

Marsh hit a season’s best height of 10 feet, six inches to get to state and she’s aiming to get at least that mark again when she competes on Saturday.

“I came into the season just wanting to get better and better,” Marsh said. “Coach [Pete] Walker was working with me a lot and we worked before and after practice to get better.”

Marsh said her background in gymnastics helps her avoid the fear of pole vaulting, but she still had a few nerves while going against defending state champ Andi Jacobs of Century in the Big Nine and Section 1AA meets.

“It’s a little intimidating, but she’s really nice about it,” Marsh said.

Austin junior Jany Gash is the lone representative for the boys team at state and he’s looking to recapture a distance that he had earlier this season in the triple jump. Gash started the season with a career-best distance of 44-4.5 and he hasn’t matched that total since. He did get up to a 43-10.5 at the Section 1AA meet.

“That [first jump] was sort of a one hit wonder for awhile. I’m hoping to go up there and do it again,” Gash, who will compete on Friday, said. “I have more of a feel of what to expect out of myself after what I’ve seen throughout the season. I have pretty high expectations [at state].”

CLASS A SEEDINGS

1600-meter run: Peter Torkelson, a junior from, GMLOKS is seeded second out of 16 runners with a seed time of 4:27.48. Kurt TeBeest of Montevideo is seeded first with a time of 4:25.43. Torkelson will run on Saturday.

400-meter dash: Lauren Buchholtz, a GMLOKS freshman, is seeded fifth out of 16 runners with a time of 59.10 seconds. Robbie Grace of Blake School is seeded first with a time of 57.45.

3200-meter run: Kayla Christopherson, a freshman from Lyle-Pacelli, is seeded fifth out of 17 runners with a time of 11:19.72. Grace Ping of Winona Cotter is seeded first with a time of 10:42.24.

4 x 200-meter relay: The GMLOKS team of Jordyn Glynn, Lauren Buchholtz, Emily Hovden and Sydney Bendtsen is seeded third out of 16 teams with a 1:46.34. Blue Earth is seeded first with a time of 1:45.52.

High jump: Sarah Holtz, a senior from Lyle-Pacelli, is seeded first out of 16 jumpers in the high jump with a height of 5-4.

CLASS AA SEEDINGS

3200-meter run: Madison Overby, a senior from Austin is seeded 10th out of 16 runners with a time of 11:02.39. Bethany Hasz of Alexandria is seeded first with a time of 10:30.39.

100-meter hurdles: Rachel Quandt, a senior from Austin, is seeded ninth out of 16 runners with a time of 15.08. Karina Joiner of East Ridge is seeded first with a time of 14.15.

400-meter dash: Odongonga Oballa, a senior from Austin, is seeded ninth out of 16 runners with a time of 58.63.

Pole vault: Sydney Marsh, a junior from Austin, is seeded 11th out of 16 vaulters with a height of 10-6. Julia Fixsen of Mounds View is seeded first with a 12-2.

Triple jump: Jany Gash, a junior from Austin is seeded 10th out of 19 athletes with a distance of 43-10.5 Mason Roomes of Woodbury is seeded first with a 48-1.5.