Successful boys' swim season comes to a close with loss in state sectional final

A championship season came to an end for the Bridgewater-Raritan High School boys’ swim team when it fell against the premier squad in New Jersey.

Bridgewater-Raritan had its upset bid foiled when it was defeated by Westfield High School, ranked No. 1 in New Jersey, 92-78, in the NJSIAA North Jersey, Section 2, Group A sectional championship meet on Friday February 17, at the Raritan Bay YMCA in Perth Amboy.

Bridgewater-Raritan concluded its season with a 9-2 record and as the champion of both the Skyland Conference and Somerset County meets.

Meanwhile, Westfield, which improved to 13-0, is the favorite to go on and win the state Group A championship.

Bridgewater-Raritan opened the meet by twinning the  200 Medley Relay, but Westfield responded with 1-2-5 and 1-3-4 finishes in the next two races, the 200 Freestyle and 200 Individual Medley. This resulted in Westfield being awarded 22 out of the 32 possible combined points between these events. 

While the powerful  Blue Devils never trailed again after the meet’s second event, Bridgewater-Raritan answered by going 2-3-4 in the 50 Freestyle: good for a 9-7 event victory, and taking first and third place in the 100 Butterfly to cut Westfield’s lead to 42-36 after five events.

A first and third place  in the 100 Freestyle gave the Blue Devils another event victory but the Panthers responded with a 1-3 finish in the 500 Freestyle to get to within 58-52 after seven of the meet’s 11 events.

 But in the 200 Free Relay, Westfield secured the critical 1-3 finish to take 10 of the 14 possible points in the event and extend its lead to double digits. Bridgewater-Raritan then finished in the top spots of both the 100 Backstroke and 100 Breaststroke to get within 84-72 heading into the 100 Free Relay and the meet’s finale, but Westfield capped off its sectional title with a first-place finish in this race.

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