OCEAN CITY – The Red Raider boys swimming team is off to a 3-0 start this season after topping Atlantic City, Buena and Absegami.
Their goal is a South Jersey title.
The Ocean City High School team opened the season Dec. 7 with a 104-65 win over the Vikings, followed it two days later by beating Buena 97-33 and on Monday defeated Absegami 127-43.
The team’s depth should work to Ocean City’s advantage.
“It’s a really hard-working group,” coach Shane McGrath said about his Red Raider team after Monday’s meet against Absegami at the Ocean City Aquatic and Fitness Center. “We have a good combination of some club swimmers who are year-round guys with our high school-only guys who do some other sports. They’ve been working real well with each other. It’s a good complement of personalities and I’m really happy with where we’re at right now and what we’re doing.
“The senior captains are Nick Bianchi, Andrew Allegretto and Andrew Koch, all great guys. Other seniors like Kraig Redmond is a leader within our program. Even some juniors who are coming along like Pat Armstrong and Jackson Agnellini are taking on that role potentially being the next group of leaders.
“They’re working hard and doing what we’re asking them to do. That’s part of the whole battle right there. If they buy into what we want them to do, it makes life a lot easier,” McGrath said.
Ocean City will be looking to a number of swimmers not only to score, but to rank high among the swimmers across New Jersey.
“Pat Armstrong is a guy who when he is fully healthy can be one of the top sprinters in the state,” McGrath said. “Our goal is to get him to the Meet of Champions. We have Mike Kelly and Matt Woodside, who are our Seahawk swimmers under coach (Brian) Elko. He does an unbelievable job with those guys. They’ve done a good job scoring points.
“We also have Nick Bianchi and two freshmen who are scoring points, Tommy Armstrong and CJ Denn, who are kind of finding their way into what events we’re going to put them in,” he said.
The key to a successful season isn’t just the center-lane swimmers, McGrath explained.
“For the whole, we have guys who can win in the center lanes, but our strength is the guys in those outside lanes who can help us score points,” he said.
The team plan is to do as well as they can in the dual meets and drop times significantly as they get to the end of the season.
“Honestly, our goal is to get to that South Jersey final and maybe, eventually get one of those,” McGrath said. “That would be real nice and the guys know that is our goal. We just have to keep working hard and doing what we’re doing and hopefully that can happen.”
Ocean City 127
Absegami 43
Against Absegami, Ocean City earned first place in nine of the 11 events and had multiple 1-2-3 sweeps.
CJ Denn, Gavin Neal, Nick Bianchi and Matt Woodside combined to win the 200-meter medley relay to open the race with a time of 2 minutes and 0.50 seconds. Teammates Colin Abbott, Andrew Koch, Mike Kelly and Jackson Agnellini were second.
Absegami’s Adam Bailey was first in the 200 freestyle, winning in 2:07.72. Ocean City’s Pat Armstrong, Tommy Armstrong and Andrew Allegretto finished second, third and fourth.
Mike Kelly won the 200 individual medley for the Red Raiders in 2:26.48, leading a sweep with teammates Woodside and Abbott second and third.
Joey Sica got the Braves’ only other win on the day in the 50 freestyle with a time of 25.61 seconds. The Red Raiders took second, third and fourth with Bianchi, Agnellini and Mo Levin.
At the break after the first four events, Ocean City led 43-19. They went on to win the next seven events.
Pat Armstrong won the 100 butterfly in 1:01.41 with Denn and Bianchi third and fourth. Absegami’s Bailey was second.
Neal took the 100 freestyle in 58.11 seconds with Agnellini third and Allegretto fifth. Sica was second for Absegami.
Woodside won the 400 freestyle in a time of 4:40.32 with teammates Tommy Armstrong and Brett Heritage second and third.
Pat Armstrong, Agnellini, Bianchi and Neal combined to win the 200 freestyle relay in 1:47.89 followed by Red Raider teammates Levin, Abbott, Allegretto and Tommy Armstrong.
After the relay, Ocean City was up 89-35.
Kelly led a 1-2-3 sweep in the 100 backstroke, winning in 1:06.64. PJ Dean and Kraig Redmond were second and third.
Neal followed that up by leading another 1-2-3 sweep in the 100 breaststroke. His time was 1:15.84. Abbott and Koch were second and third.
In the final event, Pat Armstrong, Kelly, Tommy Armstrong and Woodside won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:59.93, with teammates Denn, Levin, Brett Heritage and Allegretto second.
The Red Raiders have three more meets before the winter break, hosting Eastern Thursday and Holy Spirit Monday and traveling to Egg Harbor Township Dec. 22. All the meets begin at 4 p.m.
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
