Austin Packers boys swimming and diving team downs Winona 91-87 in regular season finale

The Austin Packers boys swimming and diving team closed out the regular season in Winona Thursday night versus the Winhawks in a Big 9 Conference dual meet, and the Packers used several season bests to win 10 of the 12 events on their way to a 91-87 victory.

High finishers for Austin Thursday evening included the club’s 200 medley relay team of Brent Dahl, Carter Holt, Joey Hillkin and Kenny Cabeen, who took first with a final time of 1:46.91, and Zach Evenson took first in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:54.94, while teammate Lucas Meyers was third with a time of 2:01.63.  Senior Winston Walkup took first for the Packers in the 200 individual medley Thursday evening with a time of 2:11.75, while teammate Hunter Peters was third with a time of 2:23.76, and Austin swept the top three spots in the 50 freestyle, with Brent Dahl first with a time of 23.93 seconds, senior Kenny Cabeen was just behind in second with a time of 23.98 seconds and Noah Holt took third with a time of 26.56.

In 1-meter diving, freshman Gage Rassmussen was second with a total score of 110.10, Joey Hillkin and Kenny Cabeen went 1-2 in the 100 butterfly, with Hillkin first with a time of 58.38 seconds and Cabeen second with a time of 59.69, and Winston Walkup and Zach Evenson went 1-2 in the 100 freestyle, with Walkup finishing with a time of 51.95 seconds and Evenson finishing with a time of 53.35 seconds.  Lucas Meyers was a first-place finisher in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:25.47, just edging out Winona’s Cordell Ruppert in second with a time of 5:25.57, Austin’s 200 freestyle relay team of Winston Walkup, Joey Hillkin, Zach Evenson and Lucas Meyers was first with a final time of 1:36.72, and Brent Dahl was first in the 100 backstroke with a time of 56.34 seconds, which also placed him seventh on the all-time Austin High School backstroke list.

Austin is now off until Friday, February 10th when they will swim at the Big 9 Conference meet at Northfield Middle School.  The diving portion of the meet will take place that Friday starting at 5:30 p.m., and the swimming portion of the meet is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. the following day Saturday, February 11th.