Toms River High School North - Athletics

Athletics

The Toms River High School North Mariners compete in the Shore Conference, an athletic conference made up of private and public high schools centered at the Northern Jersey Shore. All schools in this conference are located within Monmouth County and Ocean County, and the league operates under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).

Each year, students, parents, teachers, alumni, and administrators gather for the annual Toms River High School North vs. Toms River High School South football game, also known as the "Civil War". The game is considered to be the biggest event of the year for students. The annual event began in the fall of 1972. The football team won the South Jersey Group IV state sectional championships in 1979, 1991, 1994, 1997 and 2007.

From 2004-2006 the men's ice hockey team was considered a top public power. The Mariners finished the 2004-05 season with a 17-4-1 record and were Shore Conference Champions but were ineligible for state playoffs due to receiving three disqualifications (game ejections) in regular season play. In the 2005-06 season, Kevin Raylman took over as head coach of the program, while the team was in a very competitive, predominantly private school division, they were able to compile a 19-8-2 record. In the state tournament, the Mariners received the #3 rank in public schools and were able to make it to the semi-finals, where they lost to eventual state champions Randolph High School, 3-1.

The girls basketball team won the 2000 South, Group IV state sectional championship with a 63-42 win. The team took the title again in 2004 with a one point victory against Absegami High School in the tournament final.

In 2004, the field hockey team took the Central, Group IV, edging Shawnee High School 1-0 in the tournament final.

The boys soccer team earned the South, Group IV sectional title and State Group IV title in 1983 with a 3-2 win over Kearny at Princeton University. They also earned the South, Group IV sectional title in 2004 with a 2-1 victory against Shawnee High School.

The Competition Cheerleading squad led by Ida Clendenin also took many titles including 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001 Ocean County Champions, 1999 NJCCA State Champion Stunt Group & 1999 NCA Myrtle Beach Spring Classic Champions.

Toms River North has also had notable teams in other areas, including perennial powers in the Girls Swimming, Boys Cross Country and Girls Cross Country, Tennis and Outdoor Track teams, as well as the Boys Soccer Team, which has reached the state semifinals two out of the last four years.

The boys cross country team has won Group IV state championships in 1982, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990 and 2002. Under the tutelage of Matt Jelley, who was coach at Toms River North from 2000 until 2007 when he was hired to become coach at Temple University, the team won six county titles, a Shore Conference title, three South Jersey Group IV state titles, a Group IV State Championship, and was ranked in the top 25 of the country four times reaching a high of 17th in 2004, with Jelley named by The Star-Ledger as its coach of the year for cross country in 2001.

The baseball team won the state championship in both 2008 and 2009, coached since the early 1990s by Ted Schelmay. The team won the 2009 South Jersey Group IV title with an 8-6 win over Cherokee High School in a game in which Cherokee committed nine errors in the field.

The school's girls' lacrosse team won division championships in 2009 through 2011, led by Tatum Coffey, who scored 123 goals and 65 assists in her senior year. Coffey was named to the national U-19 lacrosse team which toured Germany in the summer of 2011 and will play collegiate lacrosse at Penn State University.