OCEAN CITY – The Red Raider boys and Mustang girls swim teams made it into the semifinals of the South Jersey Group B tournament without swimming a lap courtesy of their top seeds.
The Ocean City High School team, which is 11-2 this season, earned the No. 1 spot on the boys side and gets to skip the opening and quarterfinal rounds.
The Red Raiders won’t have an opponent until Monday, Feb. 14.
Ocean City will get to host either No. 4 seed Cherry Hill West (3-7), or the winner of No. 5 Clearview vs. No. 12 Cumberland, who face off in the first round to see who gets CHW in the quarterfinals.
The Mainland Regional boys also earned a bye in the first round because of their No. 3 seed. On Feb. 11, they will face the winner of No. 6 Toms River South versus No. 11 Audubon. As the lower seed, they’ll be able to host their quarterfinal swim.
If the Mustangs win their quarterfinal, they’ll face No. 2 seed Moorestown, which also earned a bye in the first two rounds.
The Mustangs are 9-2 in the regular season. The only two losses were to Egg Harbor Township (95-75) in mid-December, and to St. Augustine Prep (99-71) last week.
If Ocean City and Mainland make it that far, they could face each other in the South Jersey Group B finals at Gloucester County Institute of Technology (GCIT) on Thursday, Feb. 17.
Ocean City’s only losses this season were to EHT (107-63) on Dec. 22 and last week to Cherokee (86-84).
Mainland, Ocean City
girls swim teams
The top-seeded Mainland Regional High School girls are 9-1 this season. Their only loss was to Vineland (90-80) when a number of their swimmers were out of the lineup, won’t swim until Feb. 14 in the semifinals.
They could face No. 4 seed Ocean City, which earned a bye in the first round and will face the winner of No. 5 Shawnee versus No. 12 Central Regional. The semifinal is Friday, Feb. 11, in Ocean City.
Ocean City is 8-2 this season, their only losses to Egg Harbor Township (107-63) on Dec. 22 and to Cherokee (96-74) on Jan. 31.
Whoever wins that quarterfinal meets Mustangs on Monday, Feb. 14, at Mainland. That winner heads to the finals at GCIT on Wednesday, Feb. 16.
On the other side of the bracket are No. 2 Clearview (5-2) and No. 3 Moorestown (5-3). Clearview is already in the semifinals.
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff