OCEAN CITY – With a young but strong team, coach Ian Keyser’s Red Raider swimmers are off to a good start this season.
Ocean City girls beat a strong Atlantic City team 97-73 on Dec. 7, overcoming the Vikings’ 6-5 edge in first-place finishes with greater depth in the outer lanes. On Monday, in their second meet, they dominated Absegami.
“We’ve had a great start opening with a win against Atlantic City, who is the best they’ve been in a number of years,” Keyser said. “We had a great first meet that I think exceeded even my expectations. We have a great group of kids. We’re very young this year, dominated by sophomores and freshmen. Of the 32ish kids we have, I’d say 18 to 20 are freshmen and sophomores, which is a great thing.
“We’re very young, but we’re learning,” he added. “We’re getting better. They want to do better, which is exactly what you want out of your team.”
The four senior leaders on the team are Olivia Scherbin, Lily Teofanova, Ava Kelly and Ally Leeds, “who have been great so far. It’s a smaller class, but they’re a great group of kids who have been setting a great example for this young team that we have.”
“Liv (Scherbin) has been a stud; she won the 100 freestyle against (Atlantic City’s) Megan Fox last week, which was huge,” Keyser said. “She touched her out by .02.”
Kelsea Cooke also has been “huge” for the Red Raider girls so far. The sophomore won the 50 freestyle against the Vikings last week. Her sister Ryan, a freshman, was second in the 50 freestyle and second in the 100 backstroke. “She has been a great pickup as a freshman,” Keyser said.
Another freshman, Rachel Stauffer, won the 100 freestyle against the Vikings “in a great time,” and sophomore Julianna Duff took the 100 breaststroke in that meet. One more freshman scorer is Sofia Petrov and junior Vanna Kelly, Ava’s younger sister, swam the 200 individual medley and 100 butterfly.
“Those are kind of our big point scorers,” Keyser said, “our center and B-lane swimmers for most of this year.”
A big goal for the Red Raiders is simply to get through a full season after the COVID-shortened season at the beginning of 2021, Keyser said. He pointed out the girls were only in the pool three days a week last season because of restrictions “and it was hard to gauge where we were as a team and meets were getting canceled. It was just a weird year.” That made it tough to see improvements over the course of the season.
The plan now “is to just get back to what we’re used to and work on improvements,” he said.
Keyser believes if the girls put in the work, they’ll have success this season in the bigger meets.
“As long as we do what we need to and are swimming the way we’re capable of swimming, those things follow that. The big things we have circled on our calendar” are the South Jersey Coaches Invitational and the Cape-Atlantic League meet at the end of January.
“I think we’ll have some Meet of Champions qualifiers as well. Olivia Scherbin was at a club meet this weekend and already qualified in the 50 free and 100 free. She’ll be going back to the Meet of Champs,” he said. “If we do the things we need to we’re going to be successful and other girls will make those meets too.”
Ocean City 139
Absegami 28
The Ocean City girls swept the top three places in nearly every event as they defeated a depleted Absegami team Monday at the Ocean City Aquatic and Fitness Center.
The Braves fielded only one relay team or one swimmer in a number of events. Each team is allowed three entries per event.
Ryan Cooke, Julianna Duff, Rachel Stauffer and Kelsea Cooke opened the meet with a win in the 200-meter medley relay. Their winning time was 2:11.41. Teammates Vanna Kelly, Lily Teofanova, Callie Bellwoar and Mia Gallagher were second.
Sofia Petrov led the sweep in the 200 freestyle in 2:30.49, followed by Nina DiPilato and Ava Kelly.
Ryan Cooke won the 200 individual medley in a time of 2:48.97, followed by Teofanova and Briana Fabi in second and third.
Rachel Stauffer took the 50 freestyle in 30.05 seconds with teammates Gallagher and Duff in second and third.
After four events Ocean City was up 51-10.
Coming back from the break, Vanna Kelly won the 100 butterfly in 1:17.30 followed by Ava Kelly and Bellwoar.
Petrov took the 100 freestyle in 1:08.43 as teammates Fabi and Brynn Gallagher finished second and third.
Kelsea Cooke won the 400 freestyle in 5:17.85 followed by Stauffer and DiPilato.
Ocean City swept all three places in the 200 freestyle relay. Petrov, Mia Gallagher, Duff and Ryan Cooke were first in 2:05.45; Morgan Lancaster, Brynn Gallager, Fabi and Ava Kelly were second; and Kamryn Smallwood, Rainey Puerta, Bailee Quinn and Gracie Pierce were third.
Bellwoar won the 100 backstroke in 1:17.45, leading a 1-2-3 sweep with Kelsea Cooke and Jessica Scott.
Duff followed that with a win in the 100 breaststroke. Her time was 1:28.43 and Vanna Kelly and Puerta were second and fourth.
Ocean City wrapped up the meet taking first and second in the 400 freestyle relay. Ryan Cooke, Petrov, Stauffer and Kelsea Cooke won in 4:39.45 followed by teammates Fabi, Brynn Gallagher, Mia Gallagher and Morgan Lancaster.
The girls will host Eastern Thursday and then Holy Spirit next Monday at the Aquatic and Fitness Center, and then travel to Egg Harbor Township Dec. 22 for their last meet before the winter break.
All three meets start at 4 p.m.
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
