WILDWOOD CREST — The Caper Tiger swimmers won their final regular season meet against Wildwood Catholic on Jan. 14, then were stuck in limbo for a day waiting to see if they would make the sectional playoffs.
The win propelled the Lower Cape May Regional High School team to eighth place in Power Points in South Jersey Group C, temporarily bumping Schalick, which had been above them as the Caper Tigers sat in ninth.
But Schalick, at 3-3, had one meet left to determine its final rankings among the eight teams that would make the playoffs.
With the 134-25 win over a small and depleted Crusader team, the Caper Tigers had a 4-3-1 record.
On Thursday, Schalick defeated winless Salem High School 95-58 to move up in Power Points and grab the eighth and final playoff spot, pushing LCMR out.
One of the pivotal meets of the season was a factor in the team’s Power Point rankings. The Caper Tigers tied 85-85 with Cape May Tech (4-2-1), which put them in seventh place in South Jersey Group C, getting that team into the playoffs.
Brittany O’Donnell, head coach of the co-ed team, said the Tech meet was especially tough because she was missing a good swimmer to injury.
In addition to the tie, LCMR’s swimmers lost three fairly close meets, to Woodstown (6-0) 100-70, Oakcrest (7-2) 95-75 and Millville (7-1) 98-72. Millville is in Group A and Woodstown and Oakcrest in Group C with LCMR.
In between, the Caper Tigers beat Pleasantville 131-11, Holy Spirit 60-32 and Buena 130-39.
“It pains you because you know what you could have done if you had him, but you can’t think about those kind of stuff,” she said. “We had sicknesses that also brought us down, but overall, it’s always nice to finish over .500.”
The Caper Tigers began the day a place lower in Power Points.
“We’re ninth so we needed a big one today and that’s what I told them,” she said. “I said even if you’re not swimming against somebody that’s faster than you, you need to act like you are because we need to get the best Power Points we can and I think we did.
“I think it will be our highest Power Points,” she added. It’s just whether or not is was enough.”
O’Donnell was right about the amount of Power Points. The team did get its highest single-meet total with 761. It gave the team an average of 661.67 for its top three meets. Schalick had 637.33 before its meet with Salem. Unfortunately for the Caper Tigers, when Schalick beat Salem the next day, it gave them 681.67 Power Points.
At the top of the Power Points is Seneca, followed by Oakcrest at No. 2, Middle Township at No. 3, Sterling at No. 4, Woodstown at No. 5, Cedar Creek at No. 6 and Cape May Tech (4-2-1) at No. 7.
Underclassmen led much of the way for the Caper Tigers over the course of the 2025-26 season. For top scorers, O’Donnell cited sophomores Giacomino Ruff and A.J. Granero, freshman Abby Simpkins and junior Lauren Crouthamel.
The team also got a boost when junior Kaitlin Nordberg transferred from Wildwood Catholic. That, the coach said, was “huge. I didn’t know it was going to happen.”
Overall, O’Donnell said the team was solid throughout the season, in spite of the injury and sicknesses.
“There’s some days that you get a little frustrated, but for the most part, I think they show up and they do what they can. We’re just lucky because we always just have such a good group of kids,” she said. “We have a great bunch of kids from the school and we’re so lucky that they are respectful. They have great personalities and they’re just fun to be around.”
Although the coach was stuck waiting to see what would happen with the team’s playoff position, she pointed out Crouthamel qualified for the Meet of Champions in the 200 individual medley and butterfly and the swimmers would be competing in the Cape-Atlantic League meet.
During the break in the swimming, both Wildwood Catholic and LCMR honored their seniors who will be graduating in the spring.
That took quite a while because the Caper Tigers will be losing 13 seniors to graduation. Four are managers; one of them was a swimmer before tearing her ACL in soccer season. The swimmers graduating are Layton Arenberg, Julia Deignan, Riley Deignan, Kaylee Eck, Addison Lagares, Molly Maiorana, Johnny Montgomery, Reilly Satt and Ella Osmundsen.
Fortunately for the Caper Tigers, they had big numbers to start the year — 39. That was a big jump from the prior season, when the team also graduated a lot of seniors.
“Hopefully we will have some more (join the team) next year so we don’t feel the loss too much,” she said.
LCMR 134, WC 25
Caper Tigers Joseph Cannavo, Giacomino Ruff, Lauren Crouthamel and Johnny Montgomery won the opening 200 medley relay in a time of 1 minute, 58.96 seconds. Teammates Reilly Satt, Alana Wright, Addison Lagares and Molly Maiorana were second. Wildwood Catholic’s Jacob Regnier, Alden Johnson, Nick Antonicello and Jackson Gorlin were third.
LCMR’s Abigail Simpkins (2:12.18), Liam Goodavage and Lina Tostevin swept the top three places in the 200 freestyle. Crusader Brigid Peters was fourth.
Crouthamel won the 200 individual medley in 2:18.02 with AJ Granero second.
Conley Ryan (25.57 seconds) led a 1-2-3 sweep in the 50 freestyle. Wildwood Catholic’s Regnier and Nick Antonicello were fourth and fifth.
Crouthamel won her second individual event of the day, the 100 butterfly, in 1:03.80. Teammates Cannavo and Lagares were second and third.
Montgomery won the 100 freestyle is 1:06.65 with Wright second and fellow Caper Tiger Marla Groetsch fifth. Crusaders Gorlin and Antonicello were third and fourth.
In the 500 freestyle, Ruff (5:36.39) and Nordberg went 1-2 with Maiorana fourth. Stella Curley was third for Wildwood Catholic.
The Caper Tigers took the top two spots in the 200 freestyle relay.
Simpkins, Ryan, Stephen Lutjen and Crouthamel were first in 1:47.77 with Goodavage, Ryan Barber, Peter Hood and Nevan Young second. Catholic’s Gorlin, Sammi Manni, Lilly Delmonte and Antonicello were third and Caper Tigers Maddie Axelsson, Osmundsen, Allison Walker and Riley Deignan were fourth.
Cannavo led the 1-2-3 sweep of the 100 backstroke in a time of 1:05.96 followed by Granero and Satt. Crusaders Regnier and Brigid Peters were fourth and fifth.
Ruff won his second individual event of the day, the 100 breaststroke, followed by teammates Nordberg and Arenberg. Ruff’s winning time was 1:12.81. Crusader Maura Bean was fourth.
The Caper Tigers wrapped up the meet by taking first and second in the 400 freestyle relay.
Simpkins, Granero, Ryan and Ruff won in 4:09.08 followed by Wright, Groetsch, Lagares and Montgomery. Catholic’s Regnier, Delmonte, Peters and Curley were second. Caper Tigers Axelsson, Osmundsen, Lux Hutchinson and Matt Caballero were fourth.
By DAVID NAHAN/Cape May Star and Wave
