Bridgewater -Raritan Boys' Swim Team Wins Skyland Conference Championship Title

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — Congratulations are in order as the Bridgewater-Raritan High School boys’ swim team won the title of the Skyland Conference Championship against Montgomery High School on Saturday, Jan. 14.

The Bridgewater-Raritan boys swam to their second straight Skyland Conference title while the Panther girls placed third in the doubleheader championship meet that was held in the pool at Montgomery High.

Overall, Bridgewater-Raritan produced the best day of any public school that competed in the Skyland Conference Championship meet.

In the boys’ meet, Bridgewater-Raritan was followed by runner-up Ridge High School and Hillsborough High School finished third. In the girls’ meet, Mount Saint Mary Academy won the title and the Pingry School placed second to finish ahead of Bridgewater-Raritan.

Bridgewater-Raritan dominated the boys’ meet when it placed in the top three in each of the 11 events, including an impressive five first-place finishes.

Jaden Lee earned the top spot in the 200 intermediate medley with a time of 1:54.19, a margin of victory of just over two seconds. Gregory Yukhvid won the 100 breaststroke with a time of 59.26 seconds.

The Panthers won three relays in the boys' meet.

The 200 medley relay swam in 1:35.72 behind Lee, Yukhvid, Christian Wong, and Kacper Buniowski. The 200 freestyle relay ended in first with a time of 1:29.89 and that team was made up of Buniowski, William Pestrichelli, Jackson Parisi and Drew Rossi. And the 400 freestyle relay completed in 3:14.57 behind Rossi, Lee, Yukhvid and Buniowski in the day’s final event to cap the championship effort.

The Panthers then added third and fifth-place finishes by Pestrichelli and Mason Pan, respectively, in the 200 freestyle in addition to Buniowski, Rossi, and Parisi who placed second, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 50 freestyle.

Yukhvid then also finished a team-high third place in the 100 butterfly (52.23) by a margin of just 0.2 seconds, while Rossi, Pestrichelli, and Lee each took a second in the 100 freestyle (48.84), 500 freestyle (4:49.64), and the 100 backstroke (53.16), respectively.

The Skyland Conference Championships were launched in the morning with the girl races.

The Bridgewater-Raritan girl’s squad received two championship finishes.

Erica Maltsev won the 200 freestyle in 1:52.71 and Kathleen Pestrichelli claimed the title in the 500 freestyle with a clocking of 5:06.93. Dora Dvorkin finished fourth (5:26.23) in the 500 freestyle for the Panthers.

Maltsev placed fifth in the 100 butterfly (59.50), and Bridgewater-Raritan finished sixth as a team in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:54.53 in a race completed by Amanda Chau, Claire Hegedus, Lila Blomquist, and Marisol Mattia. The Panthers also swam to a sixth place in the 200 freestyle relay(1:42.07) behind Lea Carranza, Keeley Rushevics, Mattia and Maltsev.

Chau finished sixth in the 100 backstroke (1:01.69), and Bridgewater-Raritan capped its third-place team finish with a fourth in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:40.38. That Panther relay team consisted of Carranza, Pestrichelli, Maltsev and Nicolette Newsome.

The Panthers will return home for Senior Day in their 3:30 p.m. meet on Thursday, Jan. 19, at the Bridgewater YMCA. Bridgewater-Raritan will be the host to Bergen Catholic High School in the boys’ meet and Immaculate Heart Academy in the girls’ competition.

This press release was produced by the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.