NEW BRUNSWICK – The Mustang girls swim team knocked off Moorestown High School after winning the South Jersey Group B sectional title Feb. 13 to make their way to the state finals Sunday at Rutgers University, but they fell to repeat champion Chatham High School.
The Mustangs were the second seed in the state Group B tournament and beat No. 3 Moorestown 108-62 Feb. 18 at the Raritan Bay YMCA. They lost by a similar score, 105-65, to Chatham, which was the defending state champion.
Mainland Regional High School’s girls swim team also made it to the state finals in 2022 after winning the South Jersey sectional, but fell to Summit that year.
Mainland’s girls team finished the season with a 13-meet win streak, their losses coming only to Chatham in the state final and Our Lady of Mercy Academy in the opener.
Against Moorestown, Mustangs Reese McEvoy, Ella Mokienko, Alivia Wainwright and Aixell Perez-Mercedes won the opening 200-meter medley relay in 1:52.53.
Ambar Perez-Merecdes won the next event, the 200 freestyle, in 1:59.43 with teammate Ryann Lowry second.
Mokienko then took the 200 individual medley in 2:18.49 with Shayne Connolly fifth.
Moorestown won the 50 freestyle in 25.29 seconds with Mustangs Leah Nirenberg, Aixell Perez-Mercedes and Taylor Funk second, third and fourth.
Mainland swept the 100 butterfly behind Wainwright (58.26 seconds), McEvoy and Hailey Kerns; and the 100 freestyle with Ambar Perez-Mercedes (55.62 seconds), Aixell Perez-Mercedes and Nirenberg.
They followed that with a 1-2 finish in the 400 freestyle. Lowry won in 5:32.91 with Shannon Sharkey second.
Ambar Perez-Mercedes, Megan Pruitt, Aixell Perez-Mercedes and Nirenberg won the 200 freestyle relay with teammates Mokienko, Natalie DiBartolo, Gabrielle Grant and Funk third.
Wainwright (58.51 seconds) and McEvoy finished first and second in the 100 backstroke with Kerns fifth.
Moorestown took the 100 breaststroke in 1:09.14. Mokienko was second and Pruitt fifth.
Mainland wrapped the state semifinal by taking first and second in the 400 freestyle relay.
Ambar Perez-Mercedes, Lowry, Nirenberg and Wainwright won in 3:52.58 and Sharkey, Connolly, Kerns and McEvoy were second.
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff