Not one, not two, but three Bridgewater-Raritan High School Athletics’ squads honored their graduating Class of 2026 seniors on Wednesday, October 29.
Starting off the afternoon was the Panthers’ gymnastics team, which is ranked No. 6 in all of New Jersey and just won its fifth straight Somerset County Tournament crown. Heading into Senior Night, Bridgewater-Raritan also delivered a season-high score in a 110.4-105.375 victory over Hunterdon Central Regional High School back on October 15 in Flemington: four days after the Panthers’ county-championship winning score of 108.125 over arch-rival and runner-up Hillsborough High School (107.775).
Following Bridgewater-Raritan’s inter-squad Senior Night meet on Wednesday afternoon, gymnasts Jasmine Chen and Lauren Yang joined team manager Morgan Perry as their team’s graduating seniors who were honored at the Somerville YMCA in Somerville.
Bridgewater-Raritan will then bid for its third straight state championship meet appearance when it competes at the NJSIAA Gymnastics Section B Team Championships at 11 a.m. Saturday, November 1, at Saint Thomas Aquinas High School in Edison. The teams with the highest scores at each of what will be four state sectional meets, along with the next best four scores across all four state sectional meets (wild cards) will advance to the NJSIAA Gymnastics Championships, which will be contested at 4 p.m. Thursday, November 6, at Brick Memorial High School in Brick.
The NJSIAA Individual Gymnastics Championships will then take place at 10 a.m. Saturday, November 8, to round out the fall gymnastics season.
Indoors at Bridgewater-Raritan High School’s Vaughn Stapleton Gymnasium a short time after the gymnastics meet’s conclusion, the following 10 senior members of the Panthers’ newly-crowned Somerset County Tournament champion girls’ volleyball team were recognized: Hannah Arun, Jahniah Bishop, Ashley Blanco, Brielle Diaz, Molly Magner, Ava Marvuglio, Allanna Nicholas, Katelyn Phan, Ella Sorensen, and Leila Zhou, prior to their Wednesday evening matchup against Delaware Valley Regional High School in Bridgewater.
The red-hot Panthers won their 19th match in a row by a score of 2-1 (21-25, 25-17, 25-19) to end their historic regular season with a record of 24-3, which includes 23 victories in their last 24 matches since dropping two of their first three matches to start the fall.
Bridgewater-Raritan was awarded the No. 2 seed only behind top-seeded Old Bridge High School: ranked No. 3 in New Jersey, in next week’s NJSIAA Central New Jersey, Group 4, Girls’ Volleyball Tournament. The Panthers will launch the postseason against No. 15 seeded Montgomery High School at 4 p.m. Monday, November 3, in Bridgewater.
Rounding out the busy day for the Bridgewater-Raritan High School Class of 2026 on Turf 2 was Senior Night for the boys’ soccer team, which saw its following 15 team members honored prior to the Panthers’ matchup against Lawrenceville High School: players Jacob Araya, Johan Ballestero-Mena, Michael Battista, Dylan Calderon, Kyle Carvalho, Peter Caterinicchia, Ariel DeJesus, Hasan Fazal, Ronit Naik, Mark Russo, Asher Sable, Angelo Sciara, Ryan Sicat, and Michael Takacs, along with team statistician and manager Charlye Campos.
Bridgewater-Raritan was edged by visiting Lawrenceville School, 1-0, to close out a bounce-back regular season with a record of 8-9-2.
The Panthers were awarded the No. 9 seed in next week’s NJSIAA North New Jersey, Section 2, Group 4, Boys’ Soccer Tournament and will travel to No. 8-seeded Columbia High School for their state tournament opener on a date and time to be determined.