Coach Britton Banning-Arndt had 63 swimmers this season, 20 more than the three-year-old Carrboro program had in 2009. And virtually all of them contributed in one way or another to Carrboro winning the NCHSAA 2-A/1-A Swimming Championship for men and to the women finishing second in the state meet on Monday.

"We had so many great swimmers, I couldn't put a bad lineup into the water if I tried," Banning-Arndt said.

Still, with unspoken expectations so high for the young program, which finished second last year in both the boys' and girls' state competitions, Banning-Arndt confessed to a certain amount of nerves.

"We purposely didn't talk about expectations, because we wanted the kids to just go and do their best and have fun," said Banning-Arndt barely three years removed from varsity competitions herself. "But I didn't sleep at all the night before.

"When you're an athlete, you just swim your events. When you're a coach, you swim every one of them in your mind."

The Jaguars swamped their competition in the Carolina 2-A Conference meets and then skipped straight onto the state meets for boys and girls after winter weather forced cancellation of the NCHSAA regionals.

Icy roads around North Carolina, especially the northern and western edges where so many 1-A and 2-A, smaller schools are located, were about the only things that could slow the Carrboro males from their appointment with the championship. Originally planned for Feb. 12 at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary, the meet was bumped to Sunday and then eventually to last Monday.

Once the meet finally got underway, the male Jaguars quickly built a lead on three private schools -- Bishop McGuiness, Raleigh Charter and Lake Norman Charter. The Carrboro girls and West Davidson were within 10 points of each other after morning swims.

Of 41 Carrboro entries, men and women, in the morning rounds, 29 came back with personal bests. Of 33 entries in the finals, eight produced Carrboro team records.

George Beatty not only won the 500 Freestyle for a Carrboro record (4:43.01), he set a personal record, topping even his best for the N.C. Aquatic Club.

"He trailed a bit in the first half of the race, and then he came back strong," Banning-Arndt said. "He was just beaming when he came out of the water."

Beatty also swam the third leg of Carrboro's winning 200 Medley Relay, teamed with Caleb Camp, Tyler Oleski and Chris Gondek in the meet's opening event for males and giving Carrboro its initial lead.

Gondek took second in the ensuing 200 Free, with teammates Sam Strosnider in fourth, Alexander Poole sixth and Troy Morelli 13th. From there on, Carrboro added points in each successive event.

The wins included Joseph Maffly-Kipp in 1-meter diving, with 220.8 points. Jaguar teammate Theo Gundelheid took second with 187.2. Molly Harkavy of Cedar Ridge won the women's diving competition, helping CRHS finish tied for 18th in the team standings. The Northwood girls' team finished in 12th.

Gondek, Camp, Beaty and Strosnider stamped an exclamation point on the final standings with their win in the meet's last event, winning the 400 Free Relay in 3:21.79.

Carrboro finished with a score of 368 points, topping the second-place team, Kernersville Bishop McGuiness (166), by a staggering 202 points. Lake Norman Charter (164) was third, followed by Raleigh Charter (151) and West Davidson at (150).

The women's championship came down to the final event, where meet MVP Kelly Ann Baird swam the last leg on the winning 400 Freestyle Relay and won the title for West Davidson, with 248 points to Carrboro's 242. Lake Norman Charter (217), Elkin (145) and Salisbury (136) rounded out the top five teams.

Emily Tysinger won her first NCHSAA title by winning the 100 Freestyle after finishing second her sophomore and junior year. She also swam on the winning 200 Freestyle Relay, repeat winners from last year, with Katie Furey, Rosemary Scanga and Megan May.

Tysinger admitted she was strongly motivated to win her final individual event after being edged for first by Lakenn Reynolds of Elkins in both the 50 and 100 Free last year, and then being bested in the 50 again this year by the length of Reynolds' fingertip.

"The first 75 (of the 100 Free), we were neck and neck," Tysinger said. "The last 25, I just put my head down and put the gas on."

Tysinger, who will swim next year at Kenyon College, is one of five scoring seniors who swam their last meet for Carrboro last week. Scanga, Oleski, Ty Fenton and Parrish Wills all graduate this spring.

"We will still have a lot of strong athletes next year," Banning-Arndt said. "What we have to work on is developing senior leadership to replace this class, which was so good, not just in the water but on the deck."