CARY — This past weekend saw Washington earn its first ever regional swimming championship. The team amassed 317 points and made an incredible push down the stretch to create separation from eventual runner up Carrboro, which earned 296.5 points.

The Pam Pack trailed by 30 points going into the 100-yard backstroke event. The deficit wasn’t too intimidating. The boys knew they had a strong chance to earn plenty of points in that event, as well as the 100-yard breaststroke and 400-yard freestyle relay.

“I talked to them about giving it your all, swimming hard and it might come down to the last relay,” coach Spencer Pake said. “They got themselves pumped up and they swam their best times.”

Kevin Andrews and Justin Clark took first and second, respectively, in the backstroke to earn a whopping 37 points for Washington.

Eric Lovenberg placed second in the 100-yard breaststroke, trailing Carrboro’s Simon Deshusses. Mason Beach (7th) and Harrison Schmidt (15th) also earned points.

Washington had earned 68 points in two events.

The fight wasn’t over. The title would still be decided in the final event. The quartet of Clark, Tony Lovenberg, Eric Lovenberg and Andrews won the 400-yard freestyle relay. They finished just about three seconds ahead of Carrboro’s unit to pull ahead and win the championship.

“They kind of looked at me at one point and said, ‘Coach, look at the score. Why are we down that much?’”I said, ‘Don’t worry, guys. You’ve got it in you,’” Pake said. “We just had those kinds of conversations. They had the heart and swam as good as they could and had all their best times recorded in the last few events.”

Pake said that the 3:15.30 it took to complete the 400-yard freestyle relay shattered the Washington record by over seven seconds.

“You know what they’re capable of to a certain point until they exceed that expectation,” Pake said. “They exceeded that expectation to win the regionals. I hope they can continue to exceed expectations heading into the state championship.”

Even though this weekend’s state championship is still ahead, winning the program’s first regional title is a sort of culminating point for the strong contingent of upperclassmen. They have put in years of work — even before high school — to put Washington swimming on the map. They have more than earned their place in school history.

“Words can’t describe it. We’ve worked hard for several years,” Pake said. “A lot of these boys we’ve been coaching since they were six years old. They’ve worked so hard and they really deserve this championship.”

The boys’ group is strong top to bottom, but it was a bit tough to imagine winning a title because they don’t have a diving team. The Pam Pack left plenty of points on the table, making the championship feat that much more impressive.

“The resilience these kids showed to swim their fastest times and move up in the ranks, it was phenomenal,” Pake said. “Words can’t describe the emotion that was going through my head.”