By By BRIAN HAINES, Brian@wdnweb.com, Sports Writer
With seven swimmers absent, Washington swim coach Spencer Pake needed every one of his remaining athletes to step up on Saturday as the Pam Pack faced South Central and White Oak in a Coastal Conference tri-meet.
Sensing the urgency, the Pam Pack swimmers answered the call as both the boys’ and the girls’ teams swept the tri-meet winning a combined 18 of the 22 events.
The boys’ team racked up 110 points to take first place as South Central (56) and White Oak (50) trailed behind.
In the girls’ meet, Washington tallied 107 points to beat out South Central (94) and White Oak (72).
“In my first speech I told them that we need everybody today,” Pake said. “And everybody stepped up as you can see from the score sheet.”
The boys’ team took first place in the 200 medley relay (Charles Pfeiffer, Daniel Crozier, Brandon Niederhauser and Coleman Smithwick), 200 freestyle (Luke Harris), 200 individual medley (Pfeiffer), 50 freestyle (Niederhauser), 100 freestyle (Niederhauser), 500 freestyle (Pfeiffer), 200 freestyle relay (Crozier, Robert Sandy, Smithwick and Harris), 100 breast stroke (Crozier) and the 400 freestyle relay (Niederhauser, Pfeiffer, Harris and Sandy.”
On the girls’ side, the Pam Pack took first in the 200 medley relay (Chandler Beach, Emily Pfeiffer, Jessie Penhollow and Riziki Omonde), 200 freestyle (Penhollow), 200 individual medley (Beach), 50 freestyle (Omonde), 100 freestyle (Omonde), 500 freestyle (Pfeiffer), 200 freestyle relay (MIchaela Daniels, Lexie Webber, Ashlan Ingals and Penhollow), 100 breast (Pfeiffer) and the 400 freestyle relay (Beach, Omonde, Daniels and Pfeiffer).
“It was a big win for us, especially being down so many swimmers because of other obligations,” Pake said. “Everybody had to step up today and they did. We had a bunch of good swims and I was very pleased.”
Pake praised the efforts of his two senior leaders Brandon Niederhauser and Charles Pfeiffer.
“On the boys side we have great leadership with Charles and Brandon,” Pake said. “When they swim well everybody else swims well. They are great swimmers, and our younger swimmers learn from them.”
Pake, who is sporting a very young and talented girls team, said that Omonde has played a big role on the team this year.
“Riziki is the girls’ captain this year,” Pake said. “We have a lot of talent on this girls’ team … The expectations of this boys and girls team is very high this year. We are hoping to win the conference with both teams this year.”
While Pake can always count on consistent performances from his veterans, sporting a short-handed team on Saturday, he was not sure which swimmers would step up to the plate. However, it didn’t take long to see that Crozier, who helped capture three first-place finishes, would rise to the occasion.
“The biggest eye-catcher to me was Daniel Crozier,” Pake said. “He had to step up big and fill some spots on the A relays and he came up big. I’m very proud of him. … I threw him in the first relay of the day and he swam his fastest time of the year.”
“On the girls’ side, they all had to step up and fill some spots today. I asked a lot of them and they came through.”
The Pam Pack will be back in the pool on Wednesday, when they travel to New Bern.