“Last year, this was a rebuilding team. And, well … we’ve rebuilt.”

A confident statement from a confident coach, but there’s little evidence to dispute the bold claim from Jon Blank, as the Pam Pack have run, leaped and propelled themselves to the forefront of the Eastern Plains Conference.

On Saturday, the Washington track and field team will hit road with their top athletes to take part in the Class 2-A regional meet at Pasquotank County High School in Elizabeth City. Blank, who believes his team is capable of not only taking regionals, but eventually states, is doing all he can to have his team ready for the weekend.

“The weather is just beating us to death, but late in the season, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Because having fresh legs late in the season is important to us,” Blank said. “Relay handoffs, marks on jumps, starting blocks, coming out strong, finishing strong – we will work on the basic factors you can control. You can’t control competition. You can’t control exactly how fast you’re going to run that day, but all the technical things you can adjust.”

With 15 athletes qualifying for regionals, the boys will showcase one of the best talent pools in school history come

Saturday. Victor Santos, Blank’s go-to distance runner in the 1600- and 3200-meter run, secured a seventh seed in the 1600 with a time of four minutes and 59.17 seconds and a three seed in the grueling 3200 with a mark of 10:54. Grayson Schmitt also qualified and will be running alongside Santos, for as long as he can keep up, in the 3200.

“I think we’re definitively one of the top teams in the region,” Blank said in reference to Santos’ success this season. “It appears that North Brunswick may be our biggest competition. They’ve got a lot of good kids … but so do we. We have two to three in almost every boys event. And that helps. We have three in several and two in the rest. Sometimes by sheer volume, you can amass a lot of points.”

With virtually identical times, Willie Smith and Raquan Davis locked up the seventh and eighth seeds, respectively, in the 800-meter run, putting them next to each other on the starting line.

For hurdles, Tarahje Burke, qualifying with a time of 16.08, and Stevie Green, securing his spot with a time of 16.04, will represent Washington in the 100-meter hurdles, each competing in separate heats (Burke in Heat 1, Green in Heat 2). Burke will also compete in the 300-meter hurdles.

Green is considered one of the favorites to win in the high jump alongside North Brunswick’s Terrance Brown and Hertford County’s Jemel Monger.

But his day won’t end there. Alongside teammates Karim Topping and Javon Whitney, Green will also be competing in the long jump.

Additionally, Topping and Whitney will compete in the triple jump.

Where the Pam Pack have excelled for most of the season is the relays, and Blank is relying on his teams to come through.

“Our relays are one of our strengths,” Blank said. “We have a lot of depth on our team, and that allows us to have good relays. Sometimes you hold out some things until later in the season. You don’t know who’s going to be in the regionals until you get the final roster, so once you get it, that allows you to maneuver some things.”

All three of Washington’s relay teams, the 4×200-meter, 4×400-meter and 4×800-meter runs, all qualified. Jarquez Keyes and Markel Spenser both qualified for the 100-meter and 200-meter dash, while three Pam Pack runners, Daniel Maultsby, Stepfon Rodman and Myron Brooks all locked up spots in the 400-meter dash.

“We’ve got a couple that are No. 1’s in some things,” Blank said. “Markel Spenser has a great opportunity to be a regional champion in a few things, especially in the 200.”

Finishing third in the conference this season, the Washington girls managed to qualify 14 athletes, most ranking as lower seeds, including Sarah Jennings in the 800 and 1600 and Callie Landen in the 3200.

Caitlin and Cierra Hales, Miranda Tyson, Alyssa Krajewski, Bryce Minor, Kylee Clancy, Timia Ebron, Hanna Copeland, Shaneen Midgette and Dajah Smith round off the rest of the participants for the girls.

“A couple weeks ago, we started talking about how we could win the region, and we’re trying to get that into their heads,” Blank said.

The top-four finishers in each regional event will qualify for states, set to begin on May 9.