That whirling dervish swimming away from a talented field at the shallow end of the GCIT pool on Saturday night may be the future of South Jersey girls' swimming.

Mainland High School freshman Joanna Thomas won both the 200- and 500-yard freestyle events at the South Jersey Coaches Invitational Division A girls' meet, breaking one of the meet's oldest records on her way.

Her style, made distinct by a relentless and blinding turnover, was extremely effective against two very strong fields.

"It just sort of came to me when I was young," Thomas said of her unique stroke. "I just started with a two-beat kick for rhythm and it developed from there."

Thomas won the 200 free in 1:53.99, and the 500 in 4:59.16, breaking the record of 5:03.41 set in 1989 by Cherry Hill East's Stephanie Schwab.

She may have enjoyed the biggest winning margins but she wasn't the only star of the girls' meet, and she was only the tip of the sword for Mainland.

The Mustangs won the team title with 282 points, 23.5 better than second-place Eastern.

Individually, Millville senior Cara Smaniotto and Egg Harbor Township junior Sarah Czar won two events.

Smaniotto took the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke going away, but she may switch things up a month from now at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions.

"I feel pretty good about how I swam today, but I haven't decided on states yet," she said. "I might swim breaststroke instead of back, but I probably won't decide until the last minute."

Czar took the 50 and 100 freestyles. Her race in the 100 was an exercise in dominance, but in the 50, she got off to a flat start and had to come from behind to beat Jill Smaniotto, Cara's freshman sister, to the wall.

"I had kind of a lazy first 25, and I didn't realize I was behind until right before the turn," Czar said. "It's incredibly hard to make up space in the 50 freestyle, so the feeling of being behind woke me right up."

Czar had a great turn to pull even with Smaniotto, and powered home for the victory, just one of several for teams from the Cape-Atlantic League.

The squads from down the Shore virtually owned the meet, winning every event but two and sending a message to traditional powers from the western part of the area.

"More and more kids down the Shore are swimming year-round," Mainland coach John Rakowski said. "The sport is really growing fast down the Shore and I think you're seeing that take effect."