Mainland Regional boys swim team prepares for championship run
LINWOOD, N.J. — The Mainland Regional High boys swimming team got off to what seemed like a pedestrian 2-2 start to its 2022-2023 season. Mustangs fans are used to their team dominating, as Mainland has been one of the top teams in the state for about a half dozen years now and has produced the likes of Destin Lasco, a national phenom at the prep level who now swims at the University of California and is a three-time NCAA champion.
But looks can be deceiving, and coach Brian Booth fully expects his team to be competing for a South Jersey championship at season’s end—it just may take a roundabout way of getting there. With a host of swimmers new to the sport and a roster nearly twice the size as last year’s, Booth has spent a good portion of this season trying to see who can do what, so that when it comes time to put a playoff-caliber lineup together, he has a better idea of where to slot certain swimmers.
“Our biggest difference this year is probably our numbers. I have a lot of kids back this year, which is nice. We graduated a few seniors, and I think I ended last year with just 16 boys, but we have 28 this year. It’s nice to have that many kids sometimes. We’re still a work in progress as far as getting better each meet. We have a lot of kids who never swam before, but we still have a handful of club kids who we lean on for most things. Getting some of these other kids in shape and being productive for our team takes some work, but it’s fun work for us this year,” Booth said in mid-January. “(The biggest challenge) has been trying to find my overall best lineup when we need to put the hammer down. You have to find what’s going to make you the best team come state playoff time.”
Booth shied away from calling this a rebuilding year simply because Mainland swims such a tough schedule. The Stangs have conference meets against very tough teams such as St. Augustine Prep, Ocean City, and Egg Harbor Township and they also took on Cherry Hill East — the No. 1 team in the state— in late January. Mainland may take a few more losses than normal this winter, but there’s no doubt the team will be ready for the postseason. He’s got some outstanding seniors to lead the way.
“My three senior captains are Mason Bushay, Zach Vasser, and Evan Falk and they are the leaders of our team. I know I can pencil them into spots and I know they will produce well for us. A sophomore, Alex Savov, has done well for us, too. He was sick at the beginning of the year, but he was back after a few meets, and he’s progressed a lot since last year. And we have a couple of freshmen — Justin Yon is a freshman breaststroker and IMer for me who has worked hard and put up some good results. Liam Kennedy is another freshman who has done well,” Booth said. “I wouldn’t say we’re retooling this year. Last year we lost in the South Jersey semifinals to a good Moorestown team. (This year) for our playoff purposes, Ocean City is the team to beat. They beat us (earlier in the season) by 12 points. It was a really good meet, and I told the boys after that meet that I anticipated seeing them again in the South Jersey finals. It looks like they might be the No. 1 seed and we’ll probably be the No. 2 seed, so there’s a good chance it will be two Cape-Atlantic League schools going at it for a championship.”
In the end, Mainland doesn’t lower its expectations simply because there are some less experienced swimmers on the roster. It’s their job to get up to speed so that the Stangs can be as competitive as possible come February.
“Our expectations are pretty similar year to year. We look to our conference first, then into playoff stuff. They changed around our conference, so now it’s St. Augustine Prep, Ocean City, EHT, us, so that’s already out because the Prep beat us pretty handily. But we’ll look to the state playoffs and we’ll try to get that No. 2 seed,” Booth said. “We want to continue to keep showing improvement until the end of the year. That’s what I’m looking for. This is a fun group of kids, they get along really well and like swimming together.”
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