LINWOOD – The Mainland Mustang boys breezed through their quarterfinal swim meet Friday afternoon, leading Toms River South from start to finish before winning 116-54.
The Mustangs, the No. 3 seed, were 10-2 as they traveled to No. 2 seed Moorestown Tuesday evening after the Sentinel sports section went to press to decide who would earn a berth in the South Jersey Public B finals Thursday at the Gloucester County Institute of Technology.
The winner will face No. 1 seed Ocean City.
Coach Brian Booth has been working with a small team this season, something that only factors in on who he has to use in various events.
“We don’t fill every lane for relays right now, but you’re only scoring the first two anyway. It would be nice to have more kids on my team, that maybe I wouldn’t have to use some as much in certain spots, but I’m happy with what we did today,” Booth said after the TRS meet.
“I had some kids drop some really nice time today and I’m hoping we can continue that going into next week.”
The coach said Ryan Brown, one of his seniors, had a really nice meet, winning the 50 freestyle and tying for first in the 100 freestyle.
“I was really proud of him. He’s been dropping (time) as the second half of the season has been going on and I’m excited to see what he’s going to do when we really need him to swim fast,” he said.
Although the Mustangs aren’t a large team, they are a committed team.
“Everyone has been working hard. The energy has been really good at practice,” Booth said. “We’ve cut back a little bit to try to rest up so we can swim fast now that we need to. We’re just hoping all of the work we put in until now will pay off.”
Mainland’s only two losses so far this season were to Egg Harbor Township before winter break and then to St. Augustine Prep on Jan. 31.
Mainland 116
Toms River South 54
Mason Bushay, Matt Giannantonio, Carson Vasser and Ryan Brown won the opening 200-meter medley relay in 1 minute 55.67 seconds. Teammates Alex Savov, Alex Generosi, Dan Tracey and Blaise Valentino were third. TRS swimmers Noah Thompson, Jack Yuro, Cal Narvaez and Logan Burnett were second.
Mustang Zach Vasser led a 1-2-4 finish in the 200 freestyle, winning in 2:04.62. Evan Falk was second and Chris Pozza fourth. Trevor Kalb was third for TRS.
Giannantonio won the 200 individual medley in 2:22.94 with Generosi third and Karim Aksenov fourth for Mainland. Burnett was second and Brady Krohn fifth for TRS.
Carson Vasser and Brown went 1-2 in the 50 freestyle with fellow Mustang Zach Wildman fourth. Vasser’s winning time was 26.02 seconds. Thompson and Robert Boemio were third and fifth for Toms River South.
Bushay and Savov followed that with another 1-2 finish in the 100 butterfly with Bushay clocking in at 1:02.09. Tracey was fifth for Mainland and Narvaez and Jack Yuro were third and fourth for TRS.
At that point, the Mustangs led 56-22.
Brown and Thompson tied in the 100 freestyle with the time of 58.22 seconds. Carson Vasser and Charlie Milhous were third and fifth for Mainland and Kalb was fourth for TRS.
Zach Vasser and Pozza were first and second in the 400 freestyle and Colin Fallat, Brady Krohn and Jeremy Schiel were third, fourth and fifth for TRS. Vasser’s winning time was 4:25.50.
A dominating finish in the 200 freestyle relay put the Mustangs up by 50 points, 87-37.
Giannantonio, Carson Vasser, Brown and Bushay won in 1:46.99 and teammates Generosi, Falk, Wildman and Zach Vasser were second for a 12-2 event score. Narvaez, Yuro, Boemio and Thompson were third for TRS.
Savov won the 100 backstroke in a time of 1:04.89 with Valentino and Ryan Kennedy third and fourth. Burnett and Joe Flores were second and fifth for TRS.
Yuro won the 100 breaststroke for TRS in a time of 1:21.11 with Narvaez and Peter Muscarella third and fifth. Mainland’s Aksenov and Generosi were second and fourth.
The Mustangs wrapped up the meet by taking first and second in the 400 freestyle relay.
Giannantonio, Falk, Zach Vasser and Bushay won in 3:42.77 and Milhous, Wildman, Savov and Valentino were second. Kalb, Krohn, Boemio and Burnett were third for TRS.
Toms River South, the No. 6 seed in the tournament, finished its season with a 6-3-1 record.
Story and photos by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff