The Pam Pack swim team begin the 2013 season exactly where it left off as it swept its season-opening tri-meet with Croatan and South Central on Tuesday.
Minus several graduated stars that made the Pack one of the best teams in the state last year, the Washington girls’ team looked strong on Tuesday, racking up 119 points to top Croatan (105) and South Central.
“I consider us a real young team, but I consider us a talented team,” Washington coach Spencer Pake said. “We lost some talent with the graduation of girls like Kaitlyn Richards, Emily Pfeiffer and Jessie Penhollow, so I was very pleased with their effort today.
“We have some new swimmers that are learning the sport and I just told them to go out and have fun and they performed well.”
As good as the girls were, the boys’ team was even stronger, piling up 161 points to push past Croatan (109) and South Central (14).
The boys’ team is loaded with talent from top to bottom and received a record-breaking performance by freshman Kevin Andrews, who finished the 100-yard backstroke in 56:5.
“This boys team is going to have a fun year. There are lots of strong swimmers,” Pake said. “We have four freshmen that have come up and one actually already broke a Washington school record.
“(Andrews) is sensational, and he before it’s all said and done he could own a lot of records.”
The Pam Pack won a total of 15 out of the 22 events on Tuesday, with the boys winning eight and the girls taking seven.
On the boys’ side, Washington won the 200-yard medley relay (Andrews, Daniel Crozier, Robert Sandy, Tony Lovenberg), 200-yard freestyle (Andrews), 200-yard individual medley (Eric Lovenberg), 100-yard butterfly (A.J. Howard), 500-yard freestyle (Eric Lovenberg), 200-yard freestyle relay (Crozier, Howard, Mason Beach, Justin Clark), 100-yard backstroke (Andrews) and the 400-yard freestyle relay (Eric Lovenberg, Tony Lovenberg, Sandy, Andrews).
Pake said he likes the makeup of this year’s boys’ roster.
“We have guys like Eric Lovenberg coming back and his brother Tony is a freshman and a good solid swimmer,” Pake said. “We’re looking for a lot from freshmen like A.J. Howard, Justin Clark.
“Christian Crompton is playing football right now, but when he comes back that’s another solid swimmer, and then we got captains Robert Sandy and Daniel Crozier.”
The Washington girls took first in the 200-yard medley relay (Chandler Beach, Megan Baldwin, Sidney Harris, Amy Arnold), 200-yard freestyle (Baldwin), 200-yard IM (Beach), 50-yard freestyle (Arnold), 100-yard freestyle (Arnold), 200-yard freestyle relay (Harris, Rebecca Omonde, Warner Little, Rylee Anderson) and the 100-yard breaststroke (Baldwin).
With the shift from the 3-A classification down to the 2-A, Washington is currently competing as an independent. However, Pake said he is urging his team to prepare for the postseason from Day 1.
“We have our sights set on the regionals,” Pake said.