Ocean City Sweeps Absegami in Swim Meet

By LESLEY GRAHAM The Ocean City High School boys and girls swim teams defeated the visiting Absegami Braves on Tuesday afternoon by a score of 117-54 and 129-39, respectively. For the Red Raiders, the wins bring the boys swim team record to 4-3, while the girls improve to 4-1-1 on the season. The boys rebounded after a tough loss to St. Augustine Prep last Friday to dominate Absegami. Ocean City won eight of the 11 events, posting a 1-2-3 finish in both the 100 yard backstroke as well as the 100 yard breaststroke. Jack Baker helps Ocean City go 1-2-3 with a second place finish in the 100 yard backstroke. Pat Armstrong, a freshman for the Red Raiders, won both his individual races, the 50 and 100 yard freestyle. He was also a part of both winning relays for Ocean City in the 200 yard medley and 200 yard freestyle. Absegami won the 100 yard butterfly, the 400 yard freestyle and the final event of the afternoon, the 400 yard freestyle relay. On the girls side of the meet, Ocean City turned in nine first place finishes, as well as sweeping the 200 yard IM, the 50 yard freestyle and the 100 yard freestyle. Absegami secured top place finishes in the 100 yard butterfly and the 100 yard backstroke. Brynn Bowman glides to a win for the Red Raiders in the 100 yard breaststroke. For the Red Raiders, freshman Vanna Kelly won the 100 and 200 yard freestyle events and also swam in the winning 400 yard freestyle relay. Ian Keyser, head coach for the girls program, said he was proud of the way his team swam despite not having a meet for the past two weeks. “Coming off winter break, and not having a meet for a solid two weeks, I was really impressed by the girls performance this afternoon,” Keyser said. “We have had a few girls already qualify for the Meet of Champions (the state meet for swimming) so we have had some early success this season and plan to keep working towards our goals.” Both Ocean City teams are back in the pool Tuesday, Jan. 14, at Millville High School. Red Raider Ethan McCarron swims to victory in the 100 yard breaststroke.