Washington opened up the winter swim season in style Wednesday evening with the men’s team picking up a convincing first-place finish, while the women fell just three-points shy of a win.

“There were definitely some first-meet jitters with some of my new swimmers, but they got over them and overcame their fears. They did a great job. We have great leadership from out captains — Lanie Godley and Meghan Baldwin for the girls and Kevin Andrews, Peter Birdsong and Eric Lovenberg for the boys. They all do a great job leading the team.”

Coming off a 10th-place finish in the NCHSAA 1-A/2-A State Championships last February, the men seemed to have picked up right where they left off. A young team now with one or two years of experience under their belts, the 174 points accumulated on Wednesday were 99 more than the second-place finisher, West Carteret.

In the relays, the Pam Pack first-string men’s team, consisting of Andrews, Mason Beach, A.J. Howard and Tony Lovenberg, rolled over the competition in the 200-yard medley, notching a time of 1:48.17, five second better than West Carteret. In fact, the men swept all three relays on the day, all by wide margins. Pake sees his relay groups as a vital part of the team’s future success and is keeping expectations high.

“On the boys and girls side, we’re definitely looking for another top-10 state finish,” he said. “We’re looking for top-three finishes individually and definitely one of the big goals is to have our relay teams place in the top-two in the state. We’re setting the bar high.”

Individually, Andrews, now a sophomore, proved to be the best athlete in the pool, dominating the 200-yard free style with a time of 1:55.94 and breezing past the competition in the 100-yard backstroke by about 11 seconds. Beach also earned seven points for his team in the 50-yard freestyle, edging teammate Martin Win by about a second with a time of 24.96.

Lined up against two of his teammates, Justin Clark won the 100-yard freestyle by securing a quick five-second lead over West Carteret’s Robby Clark, a lead that he would hold on to for the remainder of the race.

Other notable men’s finishes were Tony Lovenberg in the grueling 500-yard freestyle (5:32.53) and Eric Lovenberg in the 200-yard breaststroke (1:06.32).

For the women, there was no ovation more deserved than the one Rylee Anderson received after completing the 500-yard freestyle. Anderson maintained a consistent pace throughout the swim and came out on top with a time of 6:43.11, winning by more than 30 seconds. Anderson was also part of the first-place 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard freestyle relay teams for Washington.

Megan Baldwin, a name that frequented the winner’s circle last season, started her season off strong with a wins in the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard breaststroke, while also competing in the two first-place relay teams.

Other notable victories for the Washington women were Lanie Godley in the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard backstroke, and Amy Arnold in the 100-yard freestyle.

The women finished with 127 points, while West Carteret finished in first with 130. On paper, it was a successful opening meet for Washington, but Pake still sees room for improvement down the line.

“We’ve been in the water for two and a half weeks now practicing,” Pake said. “I’m basically trying to get everyone in swimming shape. A lot of my swimmers play other sports and while they are athletes, they aren’t in swimming shape yet. We’re just trying to swim a lot of yards, get our strokes back and get our technique back. We’re just going to get better from here.”

The Pam Pack won’t be back in the pool until after Thanksgiving break and will face Croatan and Swansboro on Dec. 6.