Eliminated by Renegades for second year in a row
DEPTFORD — A long season ended in heartbreak as the Mainland Regional High School girls swim team came up short in the South Jersey final.
The Mustangs fought a tightly contested battle against Shawnee High School but lost 87-83 in the South Jersey Group B championship. It is the second consecutive year that Mainland has been eliminated by Shawnee in the playoffs.
Mainland reached the final round after a dominant 103-67 victory over Clearview Regional High School in the semifinals.
After trailing the entire meet against Shawnee, the Mustangs got their first lead after junior Alivia Wainwright (56.03) won the 100-yard backstroke. She helped give her team a 73-67 lead with only two races remaining.
In the next race, Shawnee took the top two positions in the 100-yard breaststroke, gaining a narrow 79-77 lead going into the 400-yard relay, the final race of the day that decided the whole tournament.
Mainland took two of the top three placements in the final race but did not have a team come in first. Even with the solid finishes overall, their comeback fell short and the girls lost by only 4 points.
Out of the 11 races, the Mustangs had only three first-place finishes. They were able to stay within striking distance of Shawnee despite the large disparity in wins thanks to a full team effort.
The Mustangs took second and third place in five Shawnee victories. Those placements earned valuable points for Mainland and kept the lead from growing larger than 10.
Mainland ended its season with an 8-3 record. The team this year was young, with only four seniors who will not be returning next year. Alexander Biffoni, Claudia Booth, Sophie Goldstein and Bonnie Peng make up the small senior class who will open the door for the younger Mustangs.
Two standout freshmen were Ambar Perez-Mercedes and Hailey Kerns. In their first year, they both made the starting rotation and had good performances in the playoffs.
Booth was a part of two relay teams that helped Mainland cruise past Clearview in the semifinals. She won the 200-meter freestyle relay and the 400-meter freestyle relay alongside her teammates.
Mainland had only six first-place finishes but again had strong overall placements by the whole team which lad to the blowout victory over Clearview.
Booth was also part of the 200-yard freestyle relay against Shawnee, which was one of the three first-place finishes for the Mustangs. She was joined by Perez-Mercedes, Megan Pruitt and Leah Nirenberg as they finished with a time of 1:43.02. The second-place Shawnee team finished three seconds behind at 1:46.34, which tied the score at 62 points each.
The Mainland boys swim team made the trip up to Deptford Township and cheered on the Mustang girls from the stands. During the whole meet and especially after Mustang victories, the pool was deafening as the teams and crowd erupted during each race.
Along with her win in the 100-yard backstroke, Wainwright got the first Mustang victory on the board in the 100-yard fly. It was one of the biggest events for the Mustangs with Wainwright (55.52) and Kerns (1:00.60) taking first and second place.
Another season of experience for the younger Mustangs can help them improve heading into next year. They were close this year and needed a slight push to get over the hump and bring home another South Jersey title.
By WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel
