SWANSBORO — Simeon Pope won the regional championship in the 120-pound division and five other Pam Pack wrestlers qualified for this weekend’s state championship over the weekend.

Jacob Smith earned second place at 113 pounds. Austin Coward took third at 126 pounds. D.K. Credle came in second at 145 pounds. Andrew Ferguson took second at 182 pounds. Neill Jennings placed second at 285 pounds.

These six will represent Washington wrestling at the state championships in Greensboro starting on Thursday. That’s twice as many as the Pam Pack sent to states last season.

“I told (athletic director Jon Blank) before we left that hopefully we can get four in. Best case scenario was six and that’s what ended up happening,” coach Chris Penhollow said. “The guys really stepped up. We wrestled really well. We had kids beat guys who they had never beaten.

“As a team, I thought we wrestled really well. We looked fired up. Looks like we’re peaking at the right time of the year, so we were pleased with that.”

Jennings, one of the team’s captains, embodied the fighting spirit that has helped make Washington’s program so successful. He was dealing with an injury throughout, but still managed to earn runner-up status.

“Poor Neill has been battling his back for two years now,” Penhollow said. “He wrestled great and beat the kid that finished third and the kid that finished fourth on his way to the finals. Then he ran into Norman from Farmville Central. I almost scratched him for the finals because of his back.”

Jennings ended up tweaking his back during his finals match, which opened the door for him to get pinned in the second round.

“He’s a competitor. He wants to go. It’s his senior year,” Penhollow said.

The boys have missed few of the goals they laid out months ago in the preseason. Of course, one of them was not making it far in the dual team playoffs. Even so, doubling the state championship representatives speaks volumes of how far this team has come.

“Any time you double the number of kids you send to states, it’s a successful and phenomenal year,” Penhollow said. “Looking at the matchups and who we had competing … Looking at them from where I was, I think this was as good as we could do. I’m really proud of the kids. They were fired up and we had a good group of parents supporting us.”

Penhollow doesn’t have anything drastic planned in terms of preparing for states. Everything that can be done has been from a technique standpoint. He did, however, talk to some of the regional runners up that he felt held back. They won’t find much success in Greensboro without giving it their all.

“There’s a couple that I thought were a little conservative and pulled back a little,” he said. “I talked to them individually and they understood. I told them, ‘Look, when we get to Greensboro next weekend, let it fly. You don’t owe anybody anything and they don’t owe you anything. Just go out there and be you.’”

Washington was able to separate itself from Croatan in the standings, but couldn’t close in on first-place Dixon. The team finished the weekend as the regional runners up. The boys were well aware of the experience edge that Dixon had on them. All it did was add fuel to the fire and motivate them for next season.

They’re not looking too far ahead, though. Their sights are set on Greensboro first, but Penhollow is excited by the drive he sees.

“We’ve got to gather them together and keep them focused on states next weekend, but I like the fact that they’re looking at how next year can play out,” he said.