Mainland falls in championship meet to team it defeated for title in 2025
SEWELL — The Mustang girls swam their hearts out, putting up some of their personal best times, but Shawnee High School’s team was just too deep and too fast Thursday, Feb. 12.
Shawnee swam away with the 2026 South Jersey Group B sectional crown in a dominating 108-62 performance at the Gloucester County Institute of Technology pool.
The Mainland Regional High School girls were the defending champions, having beaten Shawnee in the final in 2025, but this time the Renegades were too much, winning every event.
Still, for a Mustang squad that entered the season with a young team after graduating a lot of seniors, an 8-3 season that took them to the finals was far from a disappointing showing.
“We knew coming into this meet that Shawnee’s a really talented team and it was going to be a tough meet, but I think we all swam really well,” said Ryann Lowry, a senior who will be swimming for Rowan University after graduation. “A bunch of us went our best times and I’m really proud of the girls.
“They all work super hard at practice and there’s such a positive energy on the pool deck. Everyone just works so hard,” she said.
In spite of Thursday’s loss, Lowry and many of her teammates are still South Jersey champs from 2025, which she called one of the best memories she’ll take away from her career at Mainland.
“We were working so hard for that all year long and just to finally win was such a rewarding feeling,” she said. “Everyone swam super fast and everyone was so encouraging at that meet.”
Junior Reese McEvoy, also part of last year’s championship team, was excited about their season.
“I think our entire team has had such an amazing season. Everybody’s dropped so much time and done great things this year, and I’m really excited to see what happens next year,” she said.
McEvoy noted the team won’t be losing that many seniors after this season so they’ll be targeting the South Jersey finals again next year.
“Today was a little disappointing, but I think everyone was really pumped for this and we all give out our best out here,” said sophomore Ella Mokienko. “I’m really looking forward to trying to make it back here. I’m just really excited for the team next year. We have new people coming in and it’s just really exciting.”
Teammate Avari Thoensen made it to the South Jersey finals in this, her freshman year.
“It wasn’t disappointing because I still had fun and everybody dropped time,” she said. “That is what my coach said; we all got PRs and it was fun.
“I actually had a lot of fun for my first year. I’m excited for next year,” Thoensen said. “I’m scared for the new events that he (coach Mike Demarest) is going to put me in, but I’m hoping to get even better times than this year.”
“Unfortunately, they were just a little bit deeper than us today,” Demarest said about Shawnee. “We’re happy to see them moving on and see how they’re going to do. They have a strong team this year.”
The coach said his own team was special this year because of “the joy they bring to this. This is a fun group, for sure.
“Sometimes you have teams that mess around too much and joke around and they never get their work done,” he said, but not this season’s squad. “They’re able to do both here. They have fun in the pool and then you see the results, they get the times, too.”
Demarest said he was happy getting back to the South Jersey finals after graduating so many seniors from the previous year’s team.
“To come back in here and just reload with some newer faces and just get right back here was one of our goals for sure and we were really happy that we were able to do that,” he said.
The difference this year, he said, is that Shawnee “just seemed to have a little more depth, a little more speed. They’ve got some strong swimmers, some veteran swimmers there, and absolutely have the depth.”
Demarest will be losing five seniors this year, including Lowry.
“It is going to be a little hard to watch them move on, but we’re excited to see them move forward into their college careers,” he said.
He added he also has a strong core coming back.
“It’s more than just fast swimmers; they’re good kids. They have really high character and that’s what you love to see,” Demarest said.
Shawnee 108, MRHS 62
The Renegades jumped out to an immediate lead by taking first and third places in the opening 200-yard medley relay. Shawnee’s Maia Kaczur, Raegan Jacobson, Camryn Tilger and Samantha Gatesman won in a time of 1:47.35. Mainland’s Ella Mokienko, Avari Thoensen, Hailey Kerns and Adrianna Kesic were second in 1:52.97.
Shawnee’s Ellie Walsh won the 200 freestyle in 1:56.30 and her teammates took third and fifth. Mustang Ryann Lowry was second in 1:59.43 and Madelyn Slattery was fourth.
Alaina Allbaugh-Heinz just out-touched Mokienko at the finish of the 200 medley relay. Allbaugh-Heinz finished in 2:10.67 and Mokienko in 2:10.73. Thoensen was third for the Mustangs.
Renegade Gatesman won the 50 freestyle in 24.31 seconds with Mainland’s Taylor Funk second in 25.58. Fellow Mustangs Ella Wainwright and Olivia Herbert were fourth and fifth.
Tilger (56.10 seconds) and Kaczur went 1-2 in the 100 butterfly. Mustangs Reese McEvoy, Kerns and Sofia Caravello finished second, third and fourth, respectively.
Shawnee also went 1-2 in the 100 freestyle with Walsh winning in 53.87 seconds and Gatesman clocking in at 43 seconds. Mustangs Funk and Wainwright were third and fourth.
Allbaugh-Heinz (5:13.72), Leah Christianson and Cecilia Murphy finished 1-3-4 in the 500 freestyle. Lowry was second and Slattery fifth for Mainland.
The Mustangs pressured the Renegades in the 200 freestyle relay, but Shawnee’s Emelia Bonelli, Caravello, Allbaugh-Heinz and Walsh won in 1:43.25. Mustangs Funk, Mokienko, Lowry and Wainwright were second in 1:44.72 and teammates Thoensen, Avery Graves, Herbert and Sasha Rimska were third.
Renegade Tilger won the 100 backstroke in 56.91 seconds and Shawnee took third place. McEvoy (1:01.28) was second with Kerns fourth.
Jacobson won the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.67 for Shawnee with teammates fourth and fifth. Thoensen (1:10.15) and Mokienko were second and third.
Shawnee won the closing event, the 400 freestyle relay, with Gatesman, Allbaugh-Heinz, Walsh and Tilger in 3:41.52, and took third place. Mustangs Lowry, Funk, Wainwright and McEvoy were second in 3:52.98.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
