Cassie Cregar could afford to sit back and relax.

The Washington Township sophomore didn't swim her first event at the Gloucester County Swimming Championships until the second half of Friday's meet.

Once she did, a tight meet turned in the Minutemaids favor.

Cregar won the 500 freestyle, breaking the record she set last year, anchored the winning 200 free relay that gave the Minutemaids the lead, and then anchored the 400 free relay that clinched the team title.

Washington Township won with 107 points followed by Our Lady of Mercy Academy with 99 and Kingsway with 96.

The Washington Township boys were also victorious, winning eight of 11 events to total 129 points. Clearview was second with 79 followed by Kingsway with 69.

Cregar went to the lead in the 500 free and it soon became apparent that her main competition was the clock. She finished in 5:06.15, breaking her record by three seconds.

"I was happy with my race," Cregar said. "It is a good checkpoint to see where I am in my training for this time of year. It gets me closer to my goals for the end of the season."

Cregar anchored the 200 free relay that included Jackie Mannon, Andrea Castiglione and Emily Verno. Their victory put Washington Township in front to stay.

Tori Pellerito replaced Verno on the winning 400 free relay that iced the title.

"The girls have been swimming really well lately and we just told them to come in and swim their fastest tonight," Washington Township girls' coach Jessica Slates said. "We even had Jackie Mannon qualify for states in the 50 free with her leadoff split in the 200 free relay."

A pair of senior divers, Pitman's Caitlin Gilmore and Kingsway's Skyler Lindsey, were named the most valuable performers.

"I'm happy two divers got the award," said Gilmore, who won the event. "It's usually swimmers that get mentioned for awards like this.

"I feel pretty good about how I dove tonight. I've had a rough couple of meets in South Jersey the past two weeks and it's nice to see my hard work pay off."

Lindsey, who finished second and also swam on Kingsway's 200 medley and 400 free relay, was also delighted.

"It's an honor," she said. "It's great that divers got the award and it's especially nice to receive it with Caitlin because we've been diving together so long."

For Washington Township boys' coach Bill Albertson, the meet gave his outside lane swimmers a chance to shine.

"It was a good meet," he said. "It's the counties, you always like to do well. Some of our guys who usually are our second and third guys came in and did best times."

The most valuable performer, Washington Township senior Ryan O'Shea, won the 500 free in 5:22.90, trimming seven seconds off his seed time.

"I came in looking to swim my best, so I feel all right about my swim," O'Shea said. "I certainly didn't expect to win an award."