When both of your boys’ and girls’ swimming teams are deep championship contenders, you may not have to travel very far to find your best competition.
For members of the Bridgewater-Raritan High School boys’ and girls’ swimming teams, key opportunities to grow can be achieved in-house, along with one key ingredient.
Each other.
For tight-knit groups like both of the Panthers’ boys’ and girls’ squads, that will now be a contributing factor towards their No. 1 goal.
Being the last team standing in New Jersey.
Although their schedules have always been packed with the Garden State’s premier teams, the Panthers were able to find time for an intrasquad meet on Tuesday afternoon to not only take advantage of one chance to swim against each other in front of their home crowd.
Bridgewater-Raritan was able to honor its graduating members of the Class of 2026 on Senior Day via an entertaining East-West tribute on Tuesday, January 27, at the Bridgewater YMCA across the street from the Panthers’ campus in Bridgewater.
“We came up with this idea at least eight to ten years ago,” explained of the East-West concept by Bridgewater-Raritan girls’ swimming head coach and Hall-Of-Famer Chris Levin, whose reigning state sectional champion squad is ranked No. 8 in all of New Jersey with the postseason looming. “There is usually a week between the regular-season schedule and the state tournament, so we like to keep everyone a little fresh and on their toes. I figured it would be nice to harken back to the older days of B-R tradition, teach our swimmers about what it used to be like growing up in Bridgewater, and living on the East versus the West side: a fun intra-town rivalry.”
“To bring that back alive for an hour or two is a nice way to pay homage to tradition and keep them ready for the upcoming state tournament.”
On top of this, the Panthers’ 17 members of the graduating senior Class of 2026 were recognized in a pre-meet ceremony, which took place shortly after Tuesday afternoon’s final dismissal bell.
Honored from the girls’ swimming team were Anna Blomquist, Riccia Castone, Crystal Chen, Kimaya Desai, Colleen Donahue, Charlotte Falcon, Claire Hegedus, Julie Imwalle, Tanisha Malhotra, and Taashvi Shah. At the same time, Nish Brahmbhatt, Antony Buniowski, Matthew Enriquez, Gajendra Joshi, Jaden Lee, Samuel Meyer, and Gabriel Quevedo were recognized on the boys’ side.
“They are a fantastic group of seniors,” Levin praised the Class of 2026. “All have contributed in various ways, and it’s been exciting to watch them grow over the past four years. Many of them did rise to that occasion of making their way into our lineup and contributing both in and out of the pool in any way, shape, or form. The legacy that they’ve built [as state sectional champions] last year by coming together as a team was literally all hands on deck. This really set the stage for our new group that we have coming in from this year’s team.”
“We can go as far as our upperclassmen take us, because they know what it takes to get that far.”
While it was then conducted in a more “relaxing” setting – at least when compared to the rest of their brutal schedules- it was East-West meet time for Bridgewater-Raritan.
A great break in Bridgewater-Raritan’s action-packed 2025-26 season and a fantastic showcase of the Panthers’ deep boys’ and girls’ squads.
Even if the “breather” only lasted for an hour or two.
After winning its first state sectional championship since the 2019-20 season last year, following a 1-4 start to that campaign, the Bridgewater-Raritan girls’ swimming team picked up right where it left off in 2025-26 to the tune of victories in its first five meets. As part of its 7-1 record after the cutoff date for state tournament seeding, the Panthers’ only setback came at Hillsborough, 98-72, back on Tuesday, January 13, in a heavyweight fight that could have gone either way.
An understandable setback given both teams entered that day undefeated, especially since newly crowned Skyland Conference Delaware Division champion Hillsborough is currently the No. 2-ranked girls’ team in all of New Jersey.
The Raiders are only second to top-ranked Chatham High School, which will compete amongst New Jersey’s Group B public high schools this postseason, while Bridgewater-Raritan and Hillsborough are amongst the state championship contenders that are from Group A public high schools.
After losing at Hillsborough, Bridgewater-Raritan responded not only with back-to-back triple-digit scoring outputs to put the Panthers at six victories with at least 100 points scored amongst their seven triumphs. These came at Ridgewood High School on Wednesday, January 21, and at home two days later against No. 13-ranked Passaic County Technical Institute: the top-seeded team in the upcoming NJSIAA North New Jersey, Section 1, Group A, Girls’ Swimming Tournament.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, they have more than just a top-ten state ranking in common with Hillsborough and No. 5 ranked Westfield High School, which were both eliminated by Bridgewater-Raritan last season as part of the Panthers’ magical state sectional title run.
All three of these teams have even more Power Points than last year. They are again in the same state sectional playoff bracket: the NJSIAA North New Jersey, Section 2, Group A, Girls’ Swimming Tournament, which has Westfield as the top seed, Hillsborough seeded second, and the Panthers seeded third.
These three teams are separated by just under 200 total Power Points, which determine state tournament seeding and are based on individual squads’ race times during the regular season.
Even more, they have the most (3669), second-most (3569), and third-most (3469.33) Power Points amongst all girls’ swimming teams from Group A public schools. Therefore, should any of these three teams hoist this postseason’s North 2, Group A trophy, each would mathematically be a heavy favorite to be the last team standing amongst all four sections’ future champions.
This is particularly true since the other top-seeds that are favored to win their respective state sectional tournament crowns: Passaic Tech (3125.67) out of the North 1 bracket, No. 11 ranked Cherry Hill High School East (3057) out of the South bracket, and East Brunswick High School (2433.33) out of the Central bracket, would be heavy underdogs against either Westfield, Hillsborough, or Bridgewater-Raritan barring any major upsets in the early stages of the state sectional playoffs.
That said, Bridgewater-Raritan already has a massive 107-63 victory over Passaic Tech on its resume alone, even though the Panthers are only the No. 3 seed in the upcoming North 2, Group A playoffs.
“The amount of talent that we have this year has impressively grown, and we will take it as far as we can with them,” previewed Levin of the girls’ state playoffs. “It should be an exciting state tournament, especially with that Passaic Tech meet being a telling moment for us. We had the North 1 likely winner coming in here, and it was a statement win. Our girls took it seriously, and that was exactly what we needed to see leading into states. I have zero doubt in my mind that we have together what it could take to go all the way to the state finals and hold that trophy this year.”
“It takes a full team effort, and hopefully we can get that here in the coming weeks.”
Of course, they know the road to the top will not be easy by any means.
Because Westfield, Hillsborough, and Bridgewater-Raritan are in the same state sectional playoff bracket, only one of these three teams will be able to hoist the North 2 Group A trophy in a state sectional tournament that may very well decide who wins it all at Rutgers University on Sunday, February 22.
And if this scenario wasn't cruel enough, one of these three teams will be eliminated no later than the state sectional semifinals, as there are only two spots in the sectional finals.
For the reigning state sectional champion Bridgewater-Raritan High School girls’ swimming team, however, it knows what it signed up for and understands the monumental opportunity ahead.
Especially with the perfect tune-up in the Somerset County Tournament looming.
“The county tournament is always a main focal point of the season and the perfect segway leading into states as well,” Levin went on to say. “We get to see everyone at their top, and whoever wins that meet wins the county. I tell our girls that the way scoring works for counties is a little top-heavy, and the teams that get first place create a tough barrier to hurdle over.”
“But it’s a great opportunity for us to get more races under our belt, play around with a few final things here with our lineup, and see where the other teams are at before we face them in the state tournament.”
The same is true on the boys’ side, particularly with Bridgewater-Raritan High School’s boys’ swimming team being the top-ranked team in all of New Jersey.
The Panthers were defeated in the last four North 2, Group A boys’ sectional finals against the buzzsaw that has historically been Westfield High School, including in each of the previous three seasons under fourth-year head coach Evan Seavey, who has an impressive 37-4 record to start his tenure. Going back to the 2015-16 state tournament, Bridgewater-Raritan and Westfield have squared off in every sectional championship, and the winner between them each year eventually went on to advance to the state finals.
The loser between Bridgewater-Raritan and Westfield, however, saw its season come to a heartbreaking end – not even with a state sectional crown.
Cherry Hill High School East, which is ranked No. 6 in all of New Jersey on the boys’ side, has four of the nine Group A boys’ swimming state championships since 2015-16, while Westfield also has four Group A state titles.
In addition to the 2015-16 state championship, this notably includes the last three state crowns as part of Westfield’s 47-meet winning streak, which was snapped on December 23 in an 86.5-83.5 loss to New Jersey’s No. 11-ranked boys’ team in Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School.
Bridgewater-Raritan’s lone state championship in this span came in 2017-18, when it capped off its 12-1 season with a 92-78 victory over Cherry Hill East in the state finals and ended its year eclipsing the century mark 10 times.
Westfield and Bridgewater-Raritan are both massive favorites to meet yet again in the North 2, Group A sectional finals, especially since they have more Power Points combined (7824.34) than the cumulative amount of the following seven teams (7410.67) in the final NJSIAA North New Jersey, Section 2, Group A, Power Points standings.
This time, Bridgewater-Raritan (4337.67) is not only comfortably a No. 1 seed in the North 2, Group A state playoffs by Power Points over Westfield (3486.67), which will enter the postseason with three losses. In fact, this will be the most losses the Blue Devils have had in a regular season since also losing three regular-season meets in 2010-11 before falling to Bridgewater-Raritan in that postseason to finish 8-4.
Bridgewater-Raritan has solidified its No. 1 state ranking heading into the postseason with the most Power Points in all of New Jersey, whether amongst Group A, Group B, Group C, or any of New Jersey’s non-public high schools.
No. 19-ranked Passaic Tech (3116.67) is the top seed in the North 1, Group A sectional playoffs, Cherry Hill East (3705) is the No. 1 seed in South, Group A sectional playoffs, while New Jersey’s fourth-ranked boys’ squad in Hillsborough (4087) will lead the way in the Central, Group A bracket.
Although Hillsborough is only second to Bridgewater-Raritan in Power Points amongst the Group A field, Bridgewater-Raritan rolled to a 105-65 victory at Hillsborough back on Tuesday, January 13, as part of the Panthers’ perfect 8-0 regular season.
Including this victory, Bridgewater-Raritan eclipsed 100 points seven times: four of them amongst their five victories against state-ranked boys’ swimming squads.
Its closest meet was a massive 92-78 road victory at Delbarton School, New Jersey’s third-ranked team.
This situation particularly bodes well for the Panthers, especially since Seavey and assistant boys’ swimming coach Max Newill guided the Bridgewater-Raritan High School baseball team to a sweep of the division, county, sectional, and state championships along with a program-best 30-3 record in the spring of 2024.
In other words, they certainly know what is required to reach the pinnacle of swimming in New Jersey.
“What we learned from baseball and swimming was that there are a lot of individual efforts, but it takes a collective team to get it done,” explained Newill, who will soon enter his 19th year as the Panthers’ head baseball coach in the spring with Seavey continuing to serve as his longtime varsity assistant coach. “With the baseball team, we had a lot of depth, and we have a lot of depth with the swim team here. We had a lot of top-line talent with baseball, and some top-line talent here. I would not call them unsung heroes, but they are just solid, hard-working members of the team.”
“And that’s what it takes.”
In addition to the Skyland Conference Delaware Division title in the pool, so far, Bridgewater-Raritan has gifted its graduating senior class with its fourth straight Skyland Conference Tournament crown back on January 17.
The Panthers will then try to add a fifth consecutive Somerset County Tournament trophy next on Saturday, January 31, at Montgomery High School in Skillman, where Hillsborough and Bridgewater-Raritan will both get valuable reps against each other in a high-pressure setting heading into the state tournament.
So, at least based on the aforementioned Power Points standings and Bridgewater-Raritan’s No. 1 ranking overall in New Jersey, the Panthers will be a strong contender to make even more history over the final four weeks of the 2025-26 season.
With Seavey and Newill leading Bridgewater-Raritan boys’ swimming together since 2022-23, when the Panthers’ Class of 2026 seniors were freshmen, they now have a chance to send their first group of four-year swimmers out on top to end their storied careers.
Just like they did for their Class of 2024 baseball seniors, who won the Group 4 state title for Bridgewater-Raritan not even two full calendar years ago.
“This is the fourth year Evan and I have been doing this together, and we have learned a lot from this senior class,” Newill went on to say. “They’ve kept working hard and have been a great class to work with, because we started with high school swimming here together, and we have had a lot of success.”
“Hopefully, we can get over the hump this year at the sectional finals.”
To officially close out the 2025-26 regular season and the month of January, the Somerset County Tournament doubleheader will begin on the girls’ side at 9:15 a.m. The boys’ event will be contested at 2:15 p.m. on Saturday, January 31, at Montgomery High School in Skillman.
No. 3-seeded and reigning girls’ state sectional champion Bridgewater-Raritan (7-1) will then begin its sectional title defense in the quarterfinal round against either seventh-seeded J.P. Stevens High School or sixth-seeded Hunterdon Central Regional High School at 3 p.m. Thursday, February 5, in Bridgewater.
No. 2-seeded Hillsborough (9-0) will await the surviving team between Bridgewater-Raritan, J.P. Stevens, and Hunterdon Central in the state sectional semifinals on Monday, February 9, at the Hillsborough YMCA in Hillsborough. The winner of this semifinal matchup will advance to the North 2, Group A girls’ swimming title meet on Thursday, February 12, at the Raritan Bay YMCA in Perth Amboy.
Top-seeded Westfield (10-1), which was upset and eliminated by the Panthers in the last two state tournaments, is on the other side of both the Bridgewater-Raritan and Hillsborough brackets.
On the boys’ side, Bridgewater-Raritan (8-0) will make its state tournament debut in the sectional semifinals against the surviving team between fourth-seeded Phillipsburg High School, fifth-seeded J.P. Stevens High School, and eighth-seeded Union High School. This meet will be contested at 3 p.m. Monday, February 9, at the Bridgewater YMCA in Bridgewater.
Westfield (7-3) is seeded No. 2 in this bracket and will launch its state title defense against the surviving team between seventh-seeded Elizabeth High School, sixth-seeded Perth Amboy High School, or third-seeded Watchung Hills Regional High School.
Should both the Panthers and Blue Devils win their first state tournament meets, they will return to the North 2, Group A boys’ swimming finals for a rematch against each other on Wednesday, February 11, in Perth Amboy.
Afterwards, both the boys’ and girls’ Group A state semifinals are scheduled for Wednesday, February 18, and Thursday, February 19, respectively, at Passaic County Technical Institute in Wayne. To close out the state team tournament, the boys’ and girls’ state finals will both be contested Sunday, February 22, at Rutgers University in Piscataway.
The season will then conclude at the NJSIAA Swimming Individual Championships, which will take place the weekend of Saturday, February 28 (preliminaries) and Sunday, March 1 (finals) at Gloucester County Institute of Technology in Sewell.