Mustangs head to GCIT to compete for South Jersey sectional championship
LINWOOD – The Mainland Regional girls came out firing on all cylinders in Monday’s South Jersey Public B swimming tournament semifinal against Ocean City’s Red Raiders, jumping to a huge 37-9 lead after the first three events and then powering their way to a 117-53 victory.
That earned the Mustangs (10-1) a shot at the South Jersey title at 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Gloucester County Institute of Technology, where they’ll face No. 6 seed Cherry Hill West, which upset No. 2 Clearview 85.1 to 85.
The Ocean City girls wrapped their team season with a 9-3 record, but has swimmers who qualified for the state meet.
Mainland coach Mike Schiavo said he didn’t expect such a big start for his Mustangs and had switched some swimmers around to take on a good Ocean City medley relay team.
“It was totally unanticipated. I was trying to strengthen our medley relays and … they swam faster than I anticipated,” he said. “I was trying to cover up a little bit because I thought they were going to win the medley relay. I was hoping to go 2-3.
“And then the 200 free was unexpected as well,” he added. The Mustangs swept the top three places. “It certainly gave us a little juice there at the beginning.”
“It’s always a fun matchup with Ocean City. They’re always so well prepared,” Schiavo said. “And they kept getting faster every week. Every time I looked at their times I was very impressed with how their season went.”
Although the team had a great start with its medley relay combinations against Ocean City, the coach said it may not be the same lineup for the South Jersey final Wednesday. That will come after he looks at the team’s opponent. “We kind of figure out what we think they might do and try to match up,” he said.
With only a day of rest between Monday’s semifinal and Wednesday’s sectional final, Schiavo said the focus is “just trying to rest and recover. Hopefully we can maintain the excitement, enthusiasm, the joy they have with each other and just have as much fun and swim as fast as we can Wednesday.”
Ocean City wraps solid team season
“We’re not pleased with the outcome, but we swam well,” Ocean City coach Ian Keyser said. “We swam so well on Thursday against Shawnee (in the semifinals). It was essentially best times across the board. It’s tough to have to duplicate that a couple of days later.
“We could have been closer. Mainland, all credit to them, they’re a phenomenal team, one of the best teams in South Jersey if not the state after seeing those results today.”
Keyser said senior Olivia Scherbin was “our star of the day. Liv has been phenomenal this entire year. I’m really excited to see her race at the Meet of Champs in the couple of weeks.”
Keyser said he believes Scherbin, who is swimming the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle at the Meet of Champions, should be among the top eight in the state in the events.
With her in the medley relay are three freshmen – Mia Buonadonna, Abby Hays and Rachel Stauffer – and in the 200 freestyle relay, which also qualified for the Meet of Champions, it’s Scherbin, Buonadonna, Stauffer and sophomore Kelsea Cooke.
“We’re a young team this year. We’re losing five seniors, who all contribute, including Lilly Teofanova and Ava Kelly, who have been great leaders for us all year. But we’re a very young team, freshman and sophomore dominated,” Keyser said. “I think this sets us up for a good next couple of years.
“Besides Liv, all the other swimmers going to the Meet of Champs are freshmen (except for Cooke), so I’m very excited about that. Abby Hays, Rachel Stauffer, Mia Buonadonna were huge for us this season, great additions to that freshman class.”
Keyser said the three losses this season were to Mainland, Egg Harbor township and Cherokee, all top 20 teams in the state. They also had some quality wins, including over Vineland (10-2), which topped the National Conference of the Cape-Atlantic League. EHT (9-1) finished atop the American Conference. Ocean City was second.
“We’re a very young team,” Keyser said. “I think we laid some great groundwork this year for a very successful next couple of years.”
Mainland 117
Ocean City 53
Summer Cassidy, Laci Denn, Alivia Wainwright and Monica Iordanov won the first event, the 200-meter medley relay, in a time of 2 minutes, 5.51 seconds, with teammates Sam Camey, Jordan Ricciotti, Ella Culmone and Emma Barnhart right on their heels. Ocean City’s Mia Buonadonna, Julianna Duff, Rachel Stauffer and Olivia Scherbin were third.
The Mustangs won the top three places in the 200 freestyle led by Claudia Booth (2:15.58) with Shannon Sharkey and Alexandra Batty second and third. Callie Bellwoar and Nina DiPilato were fourth and fifth for the Red Raiders.
Ricciotti won the 200 freestyle in 2:24.98 with Mustangs Denn and Sophie Sherwood second and fourth. Abby Hays and Ryan Cooke were third and fifth for Ocean City.
Scherbin earned the first of her two victories at the meet in the 50 freestyle with a time of 27.03 seconds. Buonadonna and Kelsea Cooke were fourth and fifth. Mainland’s Wainwright and Iordanov were second and third.
Culmone and Denn were 1-2 in the 100 butterfly with Cassidy fourth. Stauffer and Vanna Kelly were third and fifth for Ocean City. Culmone’s winning time was 1:07.18.
Scherbin got her second win in the 100 freestyle in a time of 59.41 seconds. Cooke was fourth for Ocean City and Booth, Iordanov and Aixell Perez were second, third and fifth for Mainland.
The Mustangs pushed their lead to 77-33 with a 1-2-3 sweep in the 400 freestyle. Ricciotti won in 4:35.55 followed by Shannon Sharkey and Batty. Bellwoar and Julia Youngblood were fourth and fifth for Ocean City.
Booth, Barnhart, Perez and Wainwright combined to win the 200 freestyle relay in 1:54.71. Ocean City’s Kelsea Cooke, Ryan Cooke, Stauffer and Scherbin were second and Mustangs Iva Palakarska, Sophie Goldstein, Leah Nirenberg and Culmone were third.
Cassidy won the 100 backstroke in 1:09.26 with teammates Camey and Shayne Connolly second and fifth. Buonadonna and Ryan Cooke were third and fourth.
Hays earned Ocean City’s only other victory on the day in the 100 breaststroke with her time of 1;20.48. Duff was third for Ocean City. Mainland’s Sherwood, Bonnie Peng and Cassidy Thomas were second, fourth and fifth.
Iordanov, Denn, Wainwright and Ricciotto won the final event, the 400 freestyle relay in 4:12.55, with teammates Nirenberg, Cassidy, Perez and Booth second. Ocean City’s Stauffer, DiPilato, Breanna Fabi and Buonadonna were third.
Story and Photos by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff