The Bridgewater-Raritan High School boys' and girls' swim teams are preparinng for the upcoming post-season tournaments.
The Bridgewater-Raritan boys’ team's last regular-season loss in a dual meet was a 94-76 home defeat against Bergen Catholic High School on January 19, 2023: just over two years ago.
Still undefeated and sitting at 8-0 this season, Bridgewater-Raritan has delivered an average of just under 106 points per meet: well above the magic number of ‘86’ required to win a high school swimming meet. Most notably, six of Bridgewater-Raritan's victories have come against the following teams currently ranked in New Jersey--: No. 6 Hillsborough High School, No. 8 Pingry School, No. 10 Bergen Catholic High School, No. 13 Ridge Hig School, No. 14 Summit High School, and No. 15 Ridgewood High School.
As a result, Bridgewater-Raritan currently sits atop the NJSIAA North New Jersey, Section 2, Group A Power Points rankings just above arch-rival and New Jersey’s No. 1 ranked Westfield High School. The defending state champion Blue Devils have eliminated the Panthers in each of the last three state sectional title games.
Although the Bridgewater-Raritan girls’ team sits at a deceiving record of 3-5-1 given its stacked schedule, it is ranked second in its Power Points standings only behind Westfield, which the Panthers upset in the sectional semifinals last season en route to its runner-up finish in North 2, Group A.
Four of Bridgewater-Raritan’s defeats have come against the following foes ranked in the state --- No. 1 Immaculate Heart Academy, No. 5 Pingry School, No. 7 Summit High School, and No. 9 Ridge High School.
The top two teams in each section after the NJSIAA’s team cutoff date this Saturday, January 25, will have home-pool advantage for the first three rounds of the sectional playoffs, which begin on Monday, February 3. The North 2, Group A girls’ and boys’ sectional finals will then be contested on Wednesday, February 12, and Thursday, February 13, respectively, at the neutral Raritan Bay YMCA in Perth Amboy.
Prior to Bridgewater-Raritan launching its state championships bids, next up will be the Somerset County Championship meet on Saturday, February 1, at Montgomery High School in Skillman.
The Bridgewater-Raritan boys will open this meet at 9:15 a.m., while the girls will swim at 2:15 p.m. on this date.