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Raiders sweep quads at Vineland

By TOM WILLIAMS

Ocean City High School’s cross country teams both swept Egg Harbor Township, Bridgeton and Vineland in a pair of quad-meets in Vineland.

Matt Purdue’s boys defeated Vineland, 15-50, and Egg Harbor Township, 15-48. They were awarded a forfeit win over Bridgeton.

The girls easily defeated Bridgeton (15-50) and Vineland (18-45) but had a tough time with EHT. The Raiders won, 28-31.

Both performances were historic since boys coach Matt Purdue and girls coach Trish Henry are No. 1 and No. 2 all-time at OCHS (see chart, below) in won-lost percentages in a single sport. Purdue lifted his career win total to 103 and Henry to 134.

The three wins stretched the girls win streak to 24 meets. Their last loss was almost exactly three years ago (Sept. 8, 2016) to Mainland, 27-28. Before that the Raiders had win 45 straight meets so they now have 69 wins in their last 70 meets.

The EHT girls had the first two runners to finish and three of the first five. Normally that would be enough to win but Becca Millar was third and Regan Handley fourth for OCHS. When Mary Lisicki, Abby Maxwell and Karley Grimley finished sixth through eighth, respectively, Ocean City had the lead. But it was important that Marissa Guido and Vanessa Karayiannis finished ahead of EHT’s fifth runner to clinch the win. The Raiders had used their depth to extend the winning streak.

Ocean City’s boys dominated. Luke Kramer, Owen Ritti, Tyler Greene, Max Kelly and Anthony Conte swept across the finish line in the first five positions within six seconds of each other in a real red wave. And, after an EHT runner finished sixth, the next five to finish were Raiders.

Both teams will run again next Tuesday in Linwood against Mainland.

Also today, the OCHS girls tennis team opened its season with a 4-1 loss in Millville, postponed from Friday. Jordan Moyer was a straight-set winner for Ocean City at No. 1 singles. Samantha DiMatteo’s team goes to Mainland tomorrow. Their home opener is Thursday against Absegami.