A year's worth of hard work has paid off for the Austin High School girls' dance team, which on Friday will be one of 12 teams participating in the State Dance Team Tournament at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Austin finished third at the Section 1AA meet last Saturday in Faribault in the high kick/precision competition and fifth in the jazz/funk showdown. The top four teams in both categories from each of three sections in the state advance to Friday's final invitational, and AHS will be one of the dozen competing in the state field in the high kick competition.

Head coach Jennifer Sims coached the team to its last state tournament appearance in 2000. After a two-year hiatus from the program, Sims' return to the squad brought about a return trip to state this season.

"We were really excited about the third-place win," Sims said of the section meet. "We didn't walk in the room at the beginning of the year and feel like we were ready. We've been pushing the girls pretty hard all season right at their level of performance."

Austin will perform its routine at 1 p.m. on the floor of the Xcel Energy Center Friday afternoon, and six of the 12 schools will be called back as finalists for the 7 p.m. competition.

"Just to keep mentally focused we don't watch until after we perform," Sims said, "so we won't get to watch too much."

Austin will have plenty of time to center itself, as the team dances 11th out of 12 in the Class AA field. Faribault, the Section 1 champion in high kick/precision, has won the state high kick competition five of the last six years.

Finalists will be announced at 2 p.m. after judges convene with their scores. Judges award points on a maximum 100-point scale, taking into consideration five different categories: presentation, execution and skill, choreography, difficulty, and a technical category comprised of many different criteria.

Austin hopes to perform to perfection in front of the St. Paul crowd on Friday afternoon, and possibly Friday night. Last year's state meet attendance totaled 13,847 patrons for all three classes of competition. The team leaves for the Twin Cities today after school.

The other 11 teams participating in the high kick/precision forum of the meet will be -- Faribault, Totino-Grace, Simley, Academy of Holy Angels, Benilde-St. Margaret's, Andover, Delano, St. Cloud Cathedral, Willmar, Sauk Rapids-Rice, Melrose Area.