LINWOOD – Fresh off a victory at the South Jersey Swim Coaches Association tournament and a season-ending win over Haddon Township, coach Mike Demarest believes his girls are on the right track for the South Jersey Group B sectional.
The Mainland Regional High School girls are the defending South Jersey champs and if they make it to the finals could have a rematch with No. 1 seed unbeaten Shawnee. The Mustangs beat Shawnee 89-81 for the title last year.
“It’s been great to see how far we’ve come so far this year,” Demarest said of winning the South Jersey Coaches title. “It’s always a good barometer for how the training’s been paying off, but we swam great last Saturday and great last night (at the Cape-Atlantic League Championships) too so we’re really happy.”
The coach said his team is on the right track for sectionals. “All signs point to yes right now for us,” he said. “We’re just trying to stay healthy and just show up. We’re in a good spot. We fought to stay in our second seed there. It was a really close race there with Ocean City overall with Power Points.”
The Mustangs could face the Red Raiders in the semifinals Feb. 9 if Ocean City wins in the quarterfinals Thursday. Demarest said although his team won decisively in the regular season, both teams were lacking their full lineups because of sickness.
“It could be a really exciting meet if we get it there,” he said.
MRHS 123,
Haddon Twp. 46
Mainland’s Reese McEvoy, Ella Mokienko, Hailey Kerns and Madelyn Slattery opened Friday’s meet by winning the 200-meter medley relay in 2 minutes 19.16 seconds. Haddon’s Ani Pierwola, Jo Anderer, Reagan Berger and Tessa Darby were second and Mustangs Maddie Reed, Ella Rose Farrell, Sasha Rimska and Olivia Herbert were third.
Taylor Funk (2:31.46) and Avery Graves went 1-2 in the 200 freestyle for Mainland and Audrey Smith was fourth. Haddon Township’s Sophia Matyas was third.
Mustang Ryann Lowry won the 200 individual medley in 2:40.18 with Victoria Karagatchlian and Gianna Macalalad third and fourth. Haddon’s Emerson Schultz was second.
McEvoy won the 50 freestyle in 29.68 seconds and teammates Rimska and Adrianna Kesic were third and fourth. Hawk Pierwola was second just four-hundreds of a second behind McEvoy.
Mokienko (1:12.52) led a 1-2-3 sweep in the 100 butterfly with Lowry and Ella Wainwright. Haddon’s Berger was fourth.
Kerns (1:06.18) led another 1-2-3 sweep in the 100 freestyle with Slattery and Herbert with Haddon’s Matyas fourth.
Ella Rose Farrell and Grace Sims finished first and second in the 400 freestyle and Olive Gerhardt was fourth. Farrell’s winning time was 5:43.57. Hawk Anderer was third.
Kerns, Slattery, Funk and Lowry won the 200 freestyle relay in 2:03.45. Haddon Township’s Berger, Pierwola, Darby and Matyas were second and teammates Fleming, Bree Liscomb, Emerson Schultz and Bryanna Dalgo were third.
Hawk Pierwola won the 100 backstroke in 1:16.30 and teammate Adison Schultz was third. Mustang Kesic was second and teammate Maddie Reed was fourth.
Mokienko (1:27.61), Grace Sims and Karagatchlian finished first, second and third, respectively, in the 100 breaststroke for Mainland. Haddon Township’s Schultz was fourth.
The Mustangs finished the meet by taking first and second in the 400 freestyle relay. Kerns, Slattery, Wainwright and Lowry won in the 4:38.07, with Funk, Avery Graves, Herbert and Rimska second. Hawks Berger, Matyas, Andrea and Darby third.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
