The Washington swim team is in the midst of one of its finest seasons ever and will look to continue its success on Saturday when it competes in the NCAA 3-A regional meet at the Goldsboro YMCA.

Last weekend the Pam Pack made school history at the Coastal Conference championship meet as the girls sailed past the competition to a earn conference crown while the boys pulled out the final event of the evening to win their title in thrilling fashion and hand Washington its first ever sweep of a conference meet.

The day got better as Pam Pack swimmer Riziki Omonde was named the Coastal Conference Swimmer of the year and Washington’s eighth-year coach Spencer Pake was tabbed the top girls’ coach in the conference for the second straight season.

Last year at the regionals Pake’s crew had its two best finishes in school history as the girls placed third and the boys took fourth. This year Pake is bringing a total of 22 athletes (12 girls and 10 boys) and is hoping to build on last season’s success.

Representing the girls will be Omonde, Lanie Godley, Amy Arnold, Emily Pfeiffer, Chandler Beach, Megan Baldwin, Jessie Penhollow, Kaitlyn Richards and Michaela Daniels, along with alternates Ashlan Ingalls, Sydney Harris, Rebecca Omonde.

All season long Pake has contended that this year’s girls’ team is one of the most talented he’s ever coached and is hoping they can prove him right on Saturday as they will compete in every event except the 100-yard backstroke.

“We’ve got a lot of momentum going in with that great conference win that we had,” Pake said “My expectations are that the girls be a frontrunner for a regional championship. They are very talented and capable of doing it, it’s just a matter of if they can pull together and have a good swim. I’m expecting them to at least take top five.”

Competing for Washington on the boys’ side will be Luke Harris, Gabe Shepard, Coleman Smithwick, James Martin, Daniel Crozier, Robery Sandy and Dillon Wood, while Josh Crozier, Nick Lietz and Christian Crompton will serve as alternates.

With the exception of the 500-yard freestyle and the 100-yard breastroke, the boys team will be battling in every event come Saturday. The boys’ team has been streaky all season long but appear to be peaking at the right time as it has won each of its last two meets on the final event.

“The boys have been real up and down this year but right now they’re on a high and hopefully they can stay on that high and get in the top-10 as a team,” Pake said.

As a whole, the Pam Pack will be competing in 19 events and Pake said that he is hoping a majority move on to the state meet.

“As a coach I’m always looking for all my teams to advance but If I could have at least 12 of them move on I would be happy,” Pake said.

Washington will be competing against 42 other schools on Saturday and like a lot of its fellow competitors will be at a disadvantage because it does not field a diving team.

“The fact that we don’t have diving means we lose points that other teams that do have divers can get so we go into the swimming competition already down ‘X’ amount of points,” Pake said.

With that in mind, Pake said it’s imperative that his athletes swim fundamentally sound races.

“We just have to have some good quality swims,” Pake said. “We have to be mistake free. We can’t afford to have any missed opportunities at this point.”