The Bridgewater-Raritan High School and Summit High School boys’ and
girls’ swimming teams opened up the New Year with a dual meet in Union County on Friday afternoon, January 3 at the Summit Area YMCA in Summit.
On the boys’ side, Bridgewater-Raritan (4-0), ranked third in New Jersey, took first place in eight races against Summit (2-1) and remained also undefeated after a 97-73 victory.
In the girls’ meet, ninth-ranked Summit (4-0) collected nine gold medals in its 11 races against No. 19 Bridgewater-Raritan (1-3) en route to a 94-76 victory.
“We knew this was going to be a really good meet against a really solid team,” Bridgewater-Raritan boys’ head coach Evan Seavey said. “They have some outstanding ,top-end talent, and we really had to grind it out.”
Bridgewater-Raritan senior Greg Yukhvid led all boys’ swimmers with four gold medals, including individual victories in the 200-yard freestyle (1:43.17) and 100-yard freestyle (47.19 seconds). He also won the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:26.69) with junior Jaden Lee, freshman Aaron Roy, and sophomore Chris Wasko before capping the afternoon with a first-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:20.47) with sophomore Greg Rydberg, sophomore Derek Carranza, and junior Samuel Meyer.
Lee won the 200-yard individual medley (1:50.44) along with the 100-yard backstroke (51 seconds), while Meyer touched the wall first in the 500-yard freestyle (4:56.97), and Wasko rounded out the Bridgewater-Raritan victories with a triumph in the 50-yard freestyle (21.41 seconds).
Bridgewater-Raritan also captured six of the meet’s 11 bronze medals along with five silver medals: four of them during individual races, and the other second-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay (1:34.85) courtesy of Roy, Lee, Carranza, and Wasko. Roy had two more individual second-place finishes in the 50-yard freestyle (21.84 seconds) and 100-yard backstroke (53.40 seconds), while Wasko finished runner-up in the 100-yard butterfly (52.74 seconds) and Bridgewater-Raritan sophomore Steven Stasiulaitis added a second-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle (5:03.96).
“We knew we weren’t going to win every event, but we really had to push through,” Seave yrevealed. “I’m not just really proud of our guys who took first place, but our guys who grinded for second place, third place, and who were scoring for us. They just stayed the course. We really talked about this meet, and they were well prepared for what to expect Everything came together throughout the whole meet.”
While Bridgewater-Raritan ultimately was defeated in the girls’ meet, the Panthers grabbed seven silver medals.
“Summit has some incredible talent and is super well-coached,” praised Bridgewater-Raritan head coach Chris Levin. “Seeing what they were able to throw down in times today and what our girls did: point-wise and time-wise, I am super proud of them.”
Sophomore Ali Tamedl led Bridgewater-Raritan with two gold medals: one in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:12.52), and the other in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:45.78) with senior Heesoo Kim, sophomore Katie Krause, and junior Claire Hegedus.
Krause and Tamedl also added a silver medal in the 200-yard medley relay (1:56.48) with junior Kimaya Desai and sophomore Merah DeRosa, who combined for a second-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:56.40) with Hegedus along with juniors Riccia Castone and Crystal Chen.
Bridgewater-Raritan’s remaining second-place finishes came in five individual races: two of them by Hegedus (200-yard freestyle at 1:56.48 and 500-yard freestyle at 5:34.22), and one each by Tamedl (200-yard individual medley at 2:19.55), sophomore Kaylee Cerbone (100-yard butterfly at 1:03.15), and freshman Anika Nandi (100-yard breaststroke at 1:14.67).
“They left it in the pool, held their heads high, and went punch-for-punch with a team that is in the [NJSIAA Public B] state finals or winning it almost every year,” concluded Levin about his team’s effort. “They should be extremely proud of what they accomplished today.”
The Bridgewater-Raritan girls will be back in the pool next against Mount Saint Mary Academy at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, January 7, at the Jersey Aquatic Center in New Providence.
Both of the Bridgewater-Raritan squads will then square off in a dual home meet against East Brunswick High School at 3 p.m. on Friday, January 10, at the Greater Somerset County YMCA in Bridgewater.