By By STEVE FRANKLIN, Sports Writer
NEW BERN — Anna Pfeiffer had a hand in four conference championships and Brandon Niederhauser notched a couple of individual crowns as the Pam Pack swim team put forth a strong showing at Wednesday evening’s Coastal Conference Championship Meet.
The two helped their teams earn respectable finishes in the team standings as Washington’s boys’ team took fourth in the seven-team event with 82 points, behind champion J.H. Rose (110), West Carteret (86) and New Bern (84).
The Rampants also won the girls’ team title, edging out second place New Bern (101) and third place Washington (86).
Pfeiffer won individual titles in the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard breast stroke and teamed with Rizike Omonde, Shannon Niederhauser and Shelby Smithwick to win both the 200-yard medley relay and the 200-yard freestyle relay.
The Lady Pack foursome smashed their own school records in both relays, posting a time of 2:03.45 in the 200-yard medley relay and racing across the line in 1:49.80 in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
Shannon Niederhauser added a second place finish in the 50-freestyle swim with a regional qualifying time of 27.78 seconds.
Smithwich also qualified for a regional event as she swam the opening leg of the 400-yard freestyle relay in 1:02.89 to qualify for the 100-yard freestyle race at next Saturday’s NCHSAA Class 3A East Region Meet.
The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Smithwich, Shannon Niederhauser, Jessie Howard and Sarah Hager placed fourth at the conference championships. Omonde completed the Lady Pack’s stellar day with a pair of top-five finishes, taking third in the 100-yard backstroke and fifth in the 200-yard individual medley.
In the boys’ competition, Brandon Niederhauser cruised to Coastal Conference titles in 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle races. His time of 23.00 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle swim shattered his own school record.
Brandon Niederhauser also was part of two relay teams that posted runner-up finishes. The 200-yard freestyle relay team consisting of Niederhauser, Luke Stroud, Will Davis and Joey Davenport posted a season-best time of 1:38.54 to take second place, while the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Niederhauser, Stroud, Charles Pfeiffer and Colin Daw also finished second with a season-best swim of 3:42.83.
Other top performances included Davis taking third in the 200-yard freestyle race with a regional qualifying time and Charles Pfeiffer qualifying for regionals with fifth-place swims in both the 200-yard individual medley race and the 500-yard freestyle event. Luke Stroud added a fourth place finish in the 50-yard freestyle and York Winstead took fifth in the 100-yard butterfly. The 200-yard medley relay team of Charles Pfeiffer, Davis, Winstead and Stroud also had a nice outing, taking fourth.
After a terrific season Pake was tabbed as the Coastal Conference’s Coach of the Year. It was the third time in five years that Pake has picked up a conference Coach of the Year award.