Mustang swimmers have ruled South Jersey
SEWELL — The seniors on the Mainland Regional High School boys swim team have never lost a South Jersey final.
On Wednesday, Feb. 11, the Mustangs beat Ocean City High School’s Red Raiders 107-63 for their fourth straight South Jersey Group B championship.
It was the 13th South Jersey title for head coach Brian Booth, who is retiring after the season.
Although the meet was tight at the start, it didn’t take long for the Mustangs to pull away and put the trophy out of reach for the Red Raiders.
“It feels amazing for all of us, and to just do it for Coach Booth, it feels great,” senior Liam Kennedy said. “He’s helped us all along the way through these four years and just to get it done for him, this last one, it means the world.”
“It was a great team win,” fellow senior Brian Falk said. “Everyone did their part and it feels really good to see all the hard work you’ve put in throughout the season, and for us seniors, all the work you put in these past four years, to see it culminate in the way that it has.
“It’s just a truly special thing to be under Coach Booth and be able to win these last four years,” Falk added.
“It’s the fourth time we’ve done this, my freshman to senior year, so it’s a big deal for us,” senior Dominic Generosi said. “It’s Coach Booth’s last South Jerseys. It feels great to win this against our rivals. I mean, we love them, but they couldn’t get the job done today.”
“I feel great,” senior Sam Smith said. “It’s a great sendoff to my senior year, a great sendoff to Coach Booth and a great South Jersey finals meet against our rivals Ocean City.”
“It’s honestly really bittersweet,” senior Justin Yon said about their final South Jersey meet together. “It’s really bigger than any single one of us and it’s really bittersweet.”
“It’s honestly unbelievable,” Yon said of the fourth straight title in a row. “I don’t have many words to say about it. I’m really, really, really happy.”
MRHS 107, OCHS 63
Ocean City finished the season with a respectable 8-4 record and the knowledge the talent has brought the team to the South Jersey finals in four of the past five years and earned the Red Raiders their own title in 2022.
Mustangs Falk and Kennedy led their teammates with two individual wins each and as part of winning relay teams.
Ocean City’s Mihail Mosendz won one individual event and was part of the winning 200 freestyle relay.
At the Gloucester County Institute of Technology pool, Mainland’s Smith, Yon, Kennedy and Robert Nirenberg won the opening 200-yard medley relay in a time of 1 minute, 40.11 seconds. Teammates Ian Pruitt, Marek Meyers, Parker Sherwood and David Simpson were third. Ocean City’s Jason Chojnacki, Mosendz, Wilson Stauffer and Jack Scherbin placed second in 1:41.47.
Falk got his first individual win in the 200 freestyle in 1:45.11, with teammates Tristan Meyers and Jacob Howze second and fourth. Raiders Liam Koch and Ryan Slaven were third and fifth.
Mosendz earned the Raiders’ only individual win on the day in the 200 individual medley, leading a 1-2-3 sweep with teammates Arthur Flukey and Stauffer. Mosendz’s winning time was 2:03.96.
Mustangs Sherwood and Yon were fourth and fifth.
Kennedy earned his first individual win in the 50 freestyle in 21.75 seconds. Ocean City’s Scherbin (22.16), Anthony Buonadonna and Colin Schweim were second, third and fifth. Nirenberg was fourth for Mainland.
At that point, the Mustangs held a slim lead, 33-29.
Kennedy’s second individual win came in the 100 butterfly in 52.71 seconds, leading a 1-2-3 Mustang sweep with Smith and Marek Meyers. Chojnacki and Flukey were fourth and fifth.
Falk got individual win No. 2 in the 100 freestyle, finishing in 49.23 seconds. Scherbin was second for Ocean City in 50.99 seconds and teammate Schweim was fifth. Pruitt and David Simpson were third and fourth for Mainland.
Those two strong events propelled the Mustangs to a 20-point led, 57-37. Ocean City wouldn’t get any closer.
Tristan Meyers won the 500 freestyle, breaking 5 minutes with his time of 4.59.88. MRHS teammates Howze and Jacob Franklin were second and fourth. Raiders Slaven and Kai Cooke were third and fifth.
Mosendz kicked off the winning 200 freestyle relay with Schweim, Buonadonna and Scherbin that won in 1:32.48, outracing Mainland’s Nirenberg, Yon, Simpson and Falk (1:33.81). Raiders Flukey, Brandon Gallagher, Ryan Southard and Liam Koch were third.
Mustang Sam Smith battled Red Raider Stauffer through the 100 backstroke, just out-touching him for the victory. Smith’s time was 56.46 seconds and Stauffer’s time was 56.52 seconds. Pruitt and Sherwood were third and fourth for Mainland and Chojnacki was fifth for Ocean City.
Nirenberg won the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.43 and Yon and Marek Meyers were third and fourth. Raiders Mosendz (1:01.42) and Joe Mayan were second and fifth.
The Mustangs wrapped their title up in a bow with their win in the 400 freestyle relay with Falk, Tristan Meyers, Smith and Kennedy (3:24.73) and second-place finish with Howze, Franklin, Pruitt and Sherwood.
Ocean City’s Gallagher, Toby Burke, Chojnacki and Stauffer were third.
Soon a farewell
to the coach
Booth chalked up his 13th South Jersey Group B title to his talented swimmers. He did the same as he and his teams accumulated five state titles — in 2003 and four straight 2016-19 — during his term as head coach from 1997 through this, the 2025-26 season, his last.
“It was great. The kids really stepped up today and had a great meet. I’m excited for them,” Booth said. “We knew coming in that this was a good possibility. Ocean City swam really well and in the beginning of the meet they were right on our heels.”
“We had talked on the bus that the butterfly is where we were going to really start making a move and be able to go one through three,” he said of the fourth event of the meet. “The 100 butterfly really got us going and kept us up throughout the rest of the meet.”
Told his seniors felt the meet was bittersweet knowing that as they graduate their coach would be retiring, Booth said he expects it will be emotional for him.
“You know, I probably will cry on the bus on the way home, but I’m excited for them. I’m going to keep saying it. I’m excited for all of them. Like I’ve said before, they’re the ones that do it,” Booth said.
He gave kudos to their opponents and their coaches.
“Ocean City brings the best out of us, too, so I give Shane (McGrath) and Bryan (Chojnacki) a lot of credit. They keep putting the team out there. Listen, it’s also a great accomplishment for them that they have been here three years in a row.
“It just happens that we’ve been a little bit better, but they’ve got a program that’s consistently great as well.”
The Mustangs (10-1) now head to the state Group B tournament as the fourth seed. They will face No. 1 seed Chatham (9-1) at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18, back at GCIT. Chatham knocked Mainland out of the state tournament last year and beat them in 2023. Chatham is the defending state champion. Chatham also won the state title in 2024, 2023 and 2022.
In the other semifinal, No. 2 Moorestown (10-1) takes on No. 3 Scotch Plains-Fanwood (10-1) at 6:30 p.m., right after the Mainland meet.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
