Red Raiders said it took hard work to get chance to defend their title
OCEAN CITY — The Red Raider boys powered past Shawnee 108-62 Monday afternoon to earn the chance to defend their South Jersey Public B sectional swim championship Wednesday evening at Gloucester County Institute of Technology.
To do it, they’ll have to get past a familiar foe, the Mainland Mustangs, who overcame Cherry Hill West 93-77 in the other semifinal.
When the No. 1 seed Red Raiders and No. 2 seed Mustangs (7-4) met this season, Ocean City (9-3) won the close meet 91-79. But as Ocean City coach Shane McGrath and Mainland coach Brian Booth would acknowledge, that was on Jan. 5 and neither team is the same now as it was in the middle of the season.
For Ocean City, the 2022 South Jersey championship was the first for the program in 60 years. The Mustangs are past state champions, including a run of four straight state titles from 2016 to 2019 and state runner-up in 2020.
The Red Raider coach and its upperclassmen swimmers are excited to be back in the South Jersey finals and acknowledge it took a lot of work to get there.
At Monday’s meet, Coach McGrath was still wearing his 2022 slogan T-shirt that read, “The rent is due,” and said the team slogan this year has been “Work hard, stay humble.”
“Like all competitors, once you get a taste of winning, and a taste of being on the top, it’s addictive. They want to it again,” McGrath said. “They knew on paper we would have most of the team back. It just took all season to figure out what we have.
“Today, I couldn’t be more pleased with what we threw down. I was telling the kids, I had it calculated, I think we were over 3,800 power points, which is basically 400 more than we did all season. So across the board, everybody bought in and did a great job. We can enjoy today, but we have our eyes on the prize for Wednesday.”
Going up against a familiar competitor “will be a lot of fun,” McGrath said. “All of the guys know each other from the beach patrols and club swimming. I’m sure they’re fired up and we’re fired up and it will be a nice showdown at GCIT.”
“I think we had a great returning group of kids and we had a lot of new freshmen that really helped the team get in shape and (the coaches) know what they’re doing,” Matthew Woodside said after Monday’s meet. “They work the kids so hard … and it clearly shows today. I’m very happy how everyone performed.”
“Last year was such an amazing occasion for us to even go back and swim there (at GCIT) due to the COVID year because it was so exciting, but this year we want to keep the momentum going and make sure we do the best we can and have that feeling every year,” Woodside said.
“It’s everything. It’s all that we worked for. The coach really puts it in our heads that the South Jersey is our Super Bowl,” Gavin Neal said. “My freshman year I came into this program and I remember losing to Mainland and their dream team and having to watch all the seniors go that I built really strong friendships with. I think it would be awesome my senior year that we could get them back and beat them in the South Jersey finals.”
“Ever since school started we’ve been up twice a week doing morning lifts at 6 a.m. It’s tough to get up that early but it pays off in the post-season, you can tell,” Neal said.
“It’s awesome,” Pat Armstrong said about returning to the South Jersey finals. “We worked really hard this year and we’re going for two years in a row. I’m hoping we can get it done. It will be a really good race, but I’m hoping we can go for the two-peat.”
“Over 30 morning lifts, up at 5:30 and in the weight room at 6 in the morning, lifting before school and swimming after school, double sessions,” Armstrong said about the work put in this season. “A lot of hard practices and a lot of dedication. The whole team from me down to everyone in every lane did really well this year,” Armstrong said.
“It means everything to me. I’m very excited to go to South Jerseys,” Jackson Agnellini said. “I’m very excited to swim against Mainland. I’m so happy for everyone on our team; it was a team effort and it feels amazing.
“It took everything, hard practices all year, over 40 lifts just grinding all season,” he said.
The South Jersey final is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
Ocean City 108
Shawnee 62
Ocean City started off the meet powerfully, taking first and second in the opening 200-meter medley relay. Tommy Armstrong, Gavin Neal, Pat Armstrong and Matt Bell won in 1:49.31 and CJ Denn, Colin Abbott, Jackson Agnellini and Chris Garrabrant were second.
Shawnee’s Andrew Hill won the 200 freestyle in 1:57.21. Ocean City’s Matthew Woodside was second.
Pat Armstrong (2:11.84) and Abbott finished first and third in the 200 individual medley and Neal and Agnellini were second and third in the 50 freestyle.
Armstrong won his second individual event, the 100 butterfly, in 1:01.42 with Denn and Nico Eafrati third and fifth.
Tommy Armstrong, Agnellini and Bell were second, third and fourth in the 100 freestyle.
Woodside (4:19.30) won the 400 freestyle with Mitchell Zappone and Ryan Slaven third and fourth.
The Red Raiders had another relay 1-2 finish. Neal, Abbott, Agnellini and Woodside won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:44.54 and Mike Kelly, Thorne Swift, Bell and Leeds were second.
Shawnee’s Alexander Reihl won the 100 backstroke in 1:02.09. Tommy Armstrong and Denn were second and third.
Neal won the 100 breaststroke in 1:09.80 with Abbott third and Kelly fifth.
Pat Armstrong, Denn, Tommy Armstrong and Woodside won the closing 400 freestyle relay in 3:51.71 and teammates Zappone, Colin Schweim, Swift and Kelly were third.
Mainland 93
Cherry Hill West 77
Mason Bushay, Justy Yon, Liam Kennedy and Evan Falk won the 200 medley relay in 1:52.93.
Zach Vasser (2:01.38) and Brian Falk were first and third in the 200 freestyle.
Yon (2:25), Karim Aksenov and Sam Smith were first, third and fourth in the 200 individual medley.
Liam Kennedy won the 50 freestyle in 25.56 seconds with Evan Falk second and Dan Tracey fifth.
Savov, Kennedy and Tracey were second, fourth and fifth in the 100 butterfly.
Bushay won the 100 freestyle in 53.46 seconds and Evan Falk was third.
Vasser won the 400 freestyle in 4:25.61 with Brian Falk third.
Yon, Kennedy, Tracey and Vasser were second in the 200 freestyle relay.
Bushay won the 100 backstroke in 1:00.15. Savov was second.
Yon was first in the 100 breaststroke in 1:14.63. Aksenov was fourth.
Vasser, Evan Falk, Savov and Bushay won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:56.03. Joe Russo, Ryan Kennedy, Jack Barnhardt and Brian Falk were third.
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
