Full circle moment: Team beats Shawnee for second sectional title in four years
SEWELL — During the South Jersey Public B swim final Feb. 13, Shawnee High School had a shot to win entering the final event but the Mainland Regional girls slammed the door, giving the Mustang seniors their second sectional title in four years.
With their team down 81-75 and only the 400-meter freestyle relay left at the pool at Gloucester County Institute of Technology (GCIT), Shawnee needed a win and a second place to beat Mainland outright.
Ambar Perez-Mercedes, Ryann Lowry, Leah Nirenberg and Alivia Wainwright didn’t let that happen.
Perez-Mercedes jumped out to a nice lead during the first leg of the relay and her teammates helped widen the gap. The girls won in a time of 3 minutes, 44.9 seconds, nearly nine seconds ahead of Shawnee, which placed second and third.
Mainland won the title, 89-81.
“I couldn’t be more proud,” Mainland head coach Mike Demarest said. “I’ve been saying for the last two years these girls have the most fight I’ve ever seen in swimmers and they showed it today for sure.”
He knew it was going to be a close meet.
“It always comes down to it like this between us and Shawnee. It’s neck and neck the whole time. We match up so well. Today we edged them out a little bit. It was great,” he said.
“We stuck to our game plan the whole time. This is the most full lineup we’ve had all season. We’ve had a lot of injuries, sickness going back and forth, so we put it all together today when it counted and we came through,” Demarest said, noting he was impressed with how his team persevered after losing to Shawnee last year. “They kept their heads down and kept chugging.”
This was the second South Jersey title for the seniors who spent four years on the team. They also won the sectional title in 2022.
“It’s such a cool full-circle moment to feel this victory again after three years,” Wainwright said. “The girls and I worked so hard, so I’m proud of everyone. I do think we deserve this win and every single one of the girls wanted to win, so I think that really helped us. We had confidence going into it.”
That 2024 loss was “extra motivation,” she added. “We kept that in the back of our minds all season wanting to come back and win. We’re just so excited and happy and happy to move on.”
Her fellow seniors felt the same way.
“It feels amazing,” Aixell Perez-Mercedes said. “I’m so proud of everyone and really glad we believed in ourselves because we knew that we could do this.”
“A lot of hard work went into the season to get where we got today and be able to swim our times,” Nirenberg said. She also gave credit to Shawnee, who beat them two years in a row in the sectional final. “They’re a great team, great competition. We used that to motivate us.”
“I think all season we’ve been focused on this. This has been our goal,” Megan Pruitt said. “We’ve been ready to come back here and perform. The last two years we fell short. It’s definitely been hard but as seniors we were ready to come back here and win it. It just feels great. Super emotional, but super fun.”
“I’m so, so happy,” Shayne Connolly said. “We’ve been working so hard for this. I think today everyone put everything out there and we tried our hardest. It feels really good.”
“I’m so proud of this team and how hard everyone has been working,” Molly Lind said. “I know this was on our minds all season. I’m so happy we could do this as a team.”
“I thought everyone came together and worked so hard this season,” Lauren Quinn said. “All of our hard work has paid off.”
“It feels great,” Shannon Sharkey said. “I’m so happy I was part of the team for the two times we won. It’s a full-circle moment. I think everyone worked hard and I’m glad it all paid off.”
MRHS 89, Shawnee 81
The meet was close from start to finish. Although the Mainland girls led starting with the fourth event, it wasn’t by much, with Shawnee too close for comfort.
Shawnee’s biggest lead of the day — 10-4 — came in the first event when Camryn Tilger, Raegan Jacobson, Sophia Caravello and Ellie Walsh won the opening 200 medley relay in 1:49.41 with teammates Leah Christianson, Emelia Bonelli, Maia Kaczur and Selah Bontrager third.
Mainland’s Reese McEvoy, Ella Mokienko, Alivia Wainwright and Aixell Perez-Mercedes were second, two-tenths of a second behind the winners in 1:49.63.
The Mustangs evened things up quickly by dominating the 200 freestyle. Ambar Perez-Mercedes won the race in 1:56.33 with teammates Sharkey and Pruitt third and fourth. Walsh was second for Shawnee.
The score was tied, 15-15. Alaina Allbaugh-Heinz won the 200 individual medley for Shawnee in 2:12.78 with teammate Jacobson third. Mainland’s Lowry, Mokienko and Connolly were second, fourth and fifth.
Shawnee was up 24-22.
That’s when Nirenberg and Aixell Perez-Mercedes made a statement in the 50 freestyle, taking first and second for 10 points. Nirenberg’s winning time was 25.5 seconds. Christianson and Bonelli were third and fourth for Shawnee.
Up 32-30, the teams tied in points in the next event, the 100 butterfly, with both taking away eight. Tilger (54.63 seconds) and Caravello were first and fourth for Shawnee while Wainwright, McEvoy and Hailey Kerns were second, third and fifth for Mainland.
The Mustangs remained up by 2 points, 40-38.
The 100 freestyle was decided by one-hundredth of a second. Walsh placed first in 53.84 seconds with Ambar Perez-Mercedes a fingertip away at 53.85 seconds. Aixell Perez-Mercedes and Nirenberg were third and fourth, putting Mainland up 49-45.
The teams tied again 8-8 in the 400 freestyle. Allbaugh-Heinz won in 5:17.39 with Christianson fourth. Mainland’s Lowry, Sharkey and Connolly were second, third and fifth.
Up 57-53, the next two events provided the most breathing room for the Mustangs.
Ambar Perez-Mercedes, Pruitt, Aixell Perez-Mercedes and Nirenberg won in 1:42.89 with Mokienko, Nathalie DiBartolo, Gaby Grant and Taylor Funk third for a 10-4 differential. Shawnee’s Bonelli, Bontrager, Caravello and Allbaugh-Heinz were second.
Mainland led by 10 points, 67-57.
The Mustangs followed that up with a 10-6 point spread in the 100 backstroke when Wainwright out-touched Tilger by three-hundredths of a second to win — 56.35 seconds vs. 56.38 seconds. McEvoy and Hailey Kerns added a third and fifth to give the Mustangs a 14-point lead, 77-63.
Shawnee swimmers clawed their way back into contention with a dominant race in the 100 breaststroke. Jacobson (1:06.03) and Caravello went 1-2 with teammate Bonelli fourth for a 12-4 event score, making it 81-75 heading into the final race. Mokienko and Pruitt added the four points for Mainland, placing third and fifth.
The final relay gave Mainland the 89-81 win.
In 2022, the Mainland girls beat Cherry Hill West 122-48 for the sectional title. The girls made it all the way to the state finals, but fell to Summit. They lost in the sectional semifinals in 2023 and had that narrow 87-83 loss to Shawnee last year in the finals.
The Mustangs are the No. 2 seed in the the state Group III tournament. They were scheduled to face No. 3 Moorestown at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Raritan Bay YMCA.
No. 1 Chatham was taking on No. 4 Randolph in the other semifinal. The state championship meet is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 23 at Rutgers University.
Chatham is the defending champion.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
