Top-seeded Red Raiders dunk Cherry Hill West, go for first title since ’62
OCEAN CITY – The Ocean City High School boys swim team isn’t finished.
On Monday afternoon at the Ocean City Aquatic and Fitness Center, the Red Raiders earned a berth in the South Jersey Public B final with a dominating win over visiting Cherry Hill West, but moving past the semifinal was just one more step.
From the beginning of the season the team has been focused on a singular goal: A South Jersey title.
“We’re not done yet,” head coach Shane McGrath said after his boys team beat CHW 110-60. “1962 is the year we’ve been talking about for about the last four years now. It’s the last time our team won a sectional title. We’re going to give everything we have, we’re going to put our best foot forward and leave it all in the pool on Thursday.”
At 5 p.m. Thursday they will be at the Gloucester County Institute of Technology. The Ocean City boys earned the top seed in the tournament with an 11-2 regular season record – now 12-2 with Monday’s win – which gave them byes into the semifinal round.
They will face the winner of No. 2 Moorestown versus No. 3 Mainland Regional in the final. Those teams were swimming Tuesday evening after the Sentinel sports section went to press.
“We’re excited we’re going to the South Jersey final,” McGrath said. “We knew West was going to be a tough team coming in here today. We saw what they did against Clearview and we didn’t take any chances. Our guys swam great, but we still have to show up to that final meet and swim faster.”
The coach was happy with some of his swimmers’ performances. He said 75 to 80 percent of his swimmers set personal records during the seminal. “Some of our people need to maybe show up a little more in that final meet, but I’m happy overall with the body of work,” he said.
Asked about who swam their fastest times Monday, McGrath started rattling off a big chunk of his lineup – Pat Armstrong, Matt Woodside, Gavin Neal, Collin Abbott, CJ Denn, Nick Bianchi, Andrew Koch, Brett Heritage. “…. A bunch of guys stepped up and did a great job in their events.” Two swimmers also qualified for the Meet of Champions, one in the 50-meter freestyle, the other in the 100 freestyle.
“We were going for a medley relay (qualification), but we had a tough start and had to battle back in that one,” the coach said. “We’re happy with the outcome today but we have to move on.”
Ocean City 110
Cherry Hill West 60
Tommy Armstrong, Gavin Neal, Pat Armstrong and Jackson Agnellini won the opening 200-meter medley relay in 1 minute 55.11 seconds and Red Raider teammates CJ Denn, Colin Abbott, Mike Kelly and Andrew Allegretto were third to give Ocean City an immediate lead they wouldn’t relinquish. CHW’s Ben Turley, Matt Sonn, Mason Woods and Ben Schlatterer were second.
Tommy Stankus won the 200 freestyle in 2:00.83 for CHW, but Ocean City’s Matt Woodside, Nick Bianchi and Brett Heritage finished 2-3-4, respectively.
Kelly won the 200 individual medley in a time of 2:19.40 with Abbott fourth and Tommy Armstrong fifth. CHW’s Sonn and Woods were second and third.
Pat Armstrong won the 50 freestyle in 25.02 seconds. Teammates Agnellini and Allegretto were third and fourth. CHW’s Turley and Wyatt Marble were second and fourth.
After the break, Pat Armstrong led a 1-2-3 Red Raider sweep in the 100 butterfly in 59.97 seconds, followed by Denn and Kelly.
That put the Red Raiders up 52-26 five events into the meet.
Neal (54.41 seconds) and Bianchi went 1-2 in the 100 freestyle with Agnellini fifth. CHW’s Schlatterer and David Lawton were third and fourth
Woodside won the 400 freestyle in 4:16.61 with Heritage third and Koch fourth. CHW’s Stankus and John Falcone were second and fifth.
Ocean City jumped farther ahead, 86-38, by finishing first and second in the 200 freestyle relay.
Neal, Bianchi, Agnellini and Woodside won in a time of 1:45.30 and Abbott, Mo Levin, Kelly and Allegretto were second. CHW’s Lawton, Brady Dougherty, Julian Dappalone and Stankus were third.
CHW picked up a little ground by winning the next two events, but it wasn’t enough to do more than dent the lead.
Cherry Hill’s Ben Turley and Schlatterer finished 1-2 with teammate Ethan Turley fifth in the 100 backstroke. Denn and Tommy Armstrong were third and fourth. Turley’s winning time was 1:02.40.
Sonn won the 100 breaststroke in 1:14.50 with Dappalone fifth. Abbott, Neal and Matt Bell were second, third and fourth.
Pat Armstrong, Tommy Armstrong, Bianchi and Woodside won the final race, the 400 freestyle relay, in 3:56.15 with teammates Heritage, Bell, Denn and Allegretto third. CHW’s Turley, Schlatterer, Sonn and Stankus were second.
Cherry Hill West, the fourth seed in the South Jersey Public B tournament, finished the season with a 4-8 record.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK and DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
