LINWOOD – The Mustang girls swim team has gone from famine to feast with its odd 2021-22 schedule.
The girls are unbeaten at 6-0, but after having three meets in December they had nothing for almost a month and are rushing through six meets over the course of two weeks.
“This year’s schedule has just been weird,” coach Mike Schiavo said after last week’s meet with Cape May Tech. The conferences were rearranged for this season and he believes the Mustangs were in the conference with smaller schools, which put them up against two coed teams in December. “We can’t swim coed teams. So instead of having five meets, we had three meets in December and I was desperate to try and find more fun meets for the girls,” he said. By the time they swam against Tech Jan. 11, they had only competed against three teams.
“We’ve already had 40 practices and only three meets. It’s tough,” he said. The lack of meets – which they’re making up for quickly – hasn’t provided a lot of time to build team unity.
“Only having three meets makes it tough for them to come together. They’re going from three meets (in December) to nine meets (just) like that.”
After a competition layoff since Dec. 16, the Mustang girls beat Cape May Tech 135-32 on Tuesday, Jan. 11, and followed it the same week with wins over Cedar Creek, 121-39 on Thursday, and Atlantic City, 113-57 on Friday. (Schiavo appreciated Cedar Creek scheduling that additional meet with his Mustangs.)
This week will be equally busy as the girls faced Oakcrest Tuesday (after the Sentinel sports section went to press), host Holy Spirit at 4 p.m. Thursday and are at Vineland at 6 p.m. Friday.
“It’s going to be busy. We’re looking forward to that,” Schiavo said.
It’s unclear how the packed January schedule will impact the team.
“I’ve never had this before. It’s new for me,” the coach said. “Normally we only had two meets in a week. Once in a rare season we ended up jamming a third meet into a week and now we’re doing that twice in a row. It’s going to be interesting to see how they respond mentally and physically with all that.
“I’m hoping we can lighten things up and just enjoy it. I like changing lineups and having them swim different things, and that’s what I’m hoping to do over the next five meets,” he said after the Jan. 11 meet. “It will give them opportunities to swim events they normally wouldn’t swim so maybe they’ll be happy with something unusual happening like a fast time in an event they normally don’t swim.” In turn he said, that could “fire them up to train a little bit harder and keep the ball rolling. That’s the goal.”
At this point of the season, some of the swimmers he’s excited about include Claudia Booth, Shannon Sharkey, Bonnie Peng, Sophie Goldstein, Leah Nirenberg and Meg Pruitt. “Every day I get to see them work hard and they are dropping times. Their confidence is building. I’m really happy with that group of girls.”
Schiavo expects the two weeks with all the meets will buzz by.
“All of a sudden it will be the Cape-Atlantic League meet and then it will be the state tournament,” he said. “We like focusing on the state tournament. Hopefully we’ll stay happy and healthy and keep dropping times so come February we’ll be swimming at our best. That’s our goal.”
Mainland 135
Cape May Tech 32
The Mustangs dominated Cape May Tech from start to finish in last week’s meet.
The girls opened by taking first and second in the 200-meter medley relay.
Summer Cassidy, Jordyn Ricciotti, Claudia Booth and Monica Iordanov won in 2:13.10 followed just over a second later by Alivia Wainwright, Laci Denn, Aixell Perez and Iva Palakarska. Tech’s Emie Fredericks, Dempsey Ryan, Laura Schweizer and Alexandra Bruno were third.
Mustang Alexandra Batty won the 200 freestyle in 2:30.51 with teammates Sophia Sherwood and Kyra White second and fourth. Bruno was third for Tech.
Ricciotti (2:32.16) led a 1-2-3 sweep in the 200 individual medley with Booth and Emma Barnhart second and third.
Mainland’s Ella Culmone won the 50 freestyle in 29.73 seconds followed by Samantha Camey and Bonnie Peng in third and fourth. Tech’s Fredericks was second with a time of 30.27 seconds.
Iordanov won the 100 butterfly in a time of 1:11:42 with Cassidy and Shannon Sharkey completing the sweep in second and third. Schweizer was fourth and Cynthia Garcia fifth for Tech.
Perez led another 1-2-3 sweep in the 100 freestyle. Her winning time was 1:06.12 with Leah Nirenberg second and Palakarska third. Jacque Jamison and Abby DiGiamberandi were fourth and fifth for Tech.
The third sweep in a row came in the 400 freestyle. Denn won in 4:53.69 followed by teammates Booth and Batty. Fredericks was fourth for Tech.
The Mustangs then took the top two spots in the 200 freestyle relay. Camey, Sophie Sherwood, Palakarska and Culmone won in 2:01.22 with teammates Nirenberg, Peng, Barnhart and Perez second. Tech’s Jamison, Schweizer, Bruno and Fredericks finished third.
Wainwright won the 100 backstroke in 1:09.92 with Sophie Goldstein third and Shayne Connolly fourth. Schweizer was second for Tech.
Sharkey was at the front of the 1-2-3 sweep in the 100 breaststroke with a winning time of 1:31.97. Mustangs Meghan Pruitt and Cassidy Thomas were second and third. Bruno and Ryan were fourth and fifth for Tech.
Mainland finished up by taking all top three spots in the 400 freestyle relay.
Batty, Booth, Denn and Wainwright won in 4:24.59, teammates Sherwood, Cassidy, Iordanov and Riciotti were second and Peng, Sharkey, Maura Quinn and Molly Quinn were third.
– STORY AND PHOTOS By DAVID NAHAN, Sentinel staff