Austin Packers boys’ swimming and diving team fourth at their own invitational Saturday

The Austin Packers boys’ swimming and diving team played host to their long-anticipated 8-team invitational Saturday at Bud Higgins Pool at Ellis Middle School, and the Packers finished fourth as a team with 280 points.  Big 9 rival Northfield was first with 512 points, just edging out Mankato East/Loyola in second with 511.5 points, Rochester Mayo was third with 405 points, followed by Austin in fourth and Rochester John Marshall in fifth with 265 points, Owatonna took sixth with 180.5 points, Mason City, Iowa was seventh with 128 points and Rochester Century was eighth with nine points.

High finishers for Austin included the Packers’ 200 medley relay team of Winston Walkup, Jackson Barry, Joey Hilkin and Kenny Cabeen, who took fourth with a time of 1:48.36, Walkup was second in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:09.61, Cabeen was third in the 50 freestyle for Austin with a time of 23.71, Riley Ferguson compiled a score of 294 points in 1 meter diving, which was good for third place overall and Hilkin was sixth in the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:02.02.

Matthew Grush took sixth for Austin in the 100 freestyle with a time of 54.52 seconds, the 200 freestyle relay team of Kenny Cabeen, Grush, Carter Holt and Winston Walkup on the anchor leg took first with a time of 1:36.41, just edging out the team from Mankato East/Loyola in second with a time of 1:36.64, and Walkup took fourth for Austin in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:06.63.

The Packers return to action Thursday evening at Bud Higgins Pool against Mankato East/Loyola in a Big 9 Conference dual meet, with the action set to start at 6:30 p.m.