The winter season is upon us and the boys swimming season is underway. The team will be seeking its third consecutive Conference and Somerset County championships.

Returning for his 16th season is head coach Todd Sudol. Also back is assistant coach Adele Morgan who is in her 10th year with the team. Sudol is an “All American” swimmer who swam for Bridgewater-Raritan High School and later for The College of New Jersey. In addition to serving as an assistant, Morgan coaches for the Somerset Valley YMCA swim team.

The team finished last season with a record of 9-1 and is returning 16 swimmers, seven of them with varsity experience. Sophomores Derek Kosydar and Josh Franco, juniors Matt Sanders and Cael O’Brien, and seniors Kevin Gibson, Sam Hendrix and James Mehrtens complete the list of returning varsity athletes.

Hendrix is one of seven swimmers to return after being selected to one of the three all-state teams. Hendrix is an early commit to the University of Kentucky, where he plans on swimming for the Wildcats.

“Our boys team lost an extremely strong class to graduation last year and we are in a rebuilding year with them,” Morgan said.

The boys began the season with a loss to Pingry, followed by an impressive win against rival Hunterdon Central.

The win against Central was highlighted by the Raiders taking home first place in nine of the eleven events.

Gibson won the 500 and 200 yard freestyle races, Hendrix was first in the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly, Sanders took first in the 100 freestyle, and Franco finished ahead of the pack in the 100 backstroke. Additionally, Hillsborough won all three relays.

The third meet of the season was a whopping victory against Watchung Hills with a score of 110-60.

Scoring for swimming matches are much different than it is for other sports. Individual scores are based on a 6 point scale. First place receives 6 points, 2nd place earns 4 points, 3rd place gets 3 points, 4th place gets 2 points, 5th place gets 1 point, and 6th place receives 0 points.

These points go towards the scoring for each match, along with contributing to varsity contributions.

For relays, first place gets 8 points, 2nd place gets 4 points, and 3rd place gets 2 points. For varsity consideration, the points are split up between the four swimmers.

While the team may be in a rebuilding year, the expectations still remain high.

“Our goals would simply be to win every meet and go as far into the state tournament as possible,” Kosydar said.