Ed Byrnes
The final action of the school year by Cape-Atlantic League teams has been completed and, when the smoke cleared, Ocean City High School had won the Ed Byrnes Memorial All-Sports Award for 2016-17. It marked the sixth straight school year in which the Raiders have either won or shared the award, a first in the 27 years the award has been presented. It was the 15th time overall Ocean City has won or shared the award.
But Mainland Regional, which has won the award six times, was just a point behind the Raiders.
Ocean City got off to another great start in the fall with a state championship in field hockey and conference titles in boys and girls soccer and boys cross country. Among other highlights, the Raiders won South Jersey championships in girls swimming, girls basketball and golf.
Among Mainland’s highlights were a state championship in boys swimming and South Jersey titles in boys soccer and boys and girls tennis.
The all-sports award was created by Prime Events and Schoppy Inc. in 1991. It was renamed in memory of Byrnes, the longtime athletics director and football coach at Holy Spirit, after he died in February, 1996. Byrnes was president of the CAL for six years and had just won his 100th football victory three months before his death.
The system used to determine a school’s final score in the competition awards points for championships won – both CAL and NJSIAA – with bonuses for the number of different sports in which they were won. Under this system, which rewards a sports program’s versatility, a school that wins one championship in each of two different sports will get a higher score than if it won two championships in the same sport. Only sports in which the CAL crowns a champion are considered.
Among 2016-17 highlights:
