Swim Meet 101
The Bridgewater Blue Dolphins are members of the NJ Swimming and Diving Conference (NJSDC) along with other teams in Central New Jersey. Within the conference, the following types of meets are organized: Dual Meets, League Championships, Conference Championships and Invitational Meets.
To find out more about the other teams in the Conference and how it is organized, visit the New Jersey Swimming and Diving website.
Dual Meets
Each league has scheduled dual meets where the teams within the league compete against each other. Trophies are awarded to the top 3 teams. Trophies are presented at the respective League Championships held at the end of the season.
Dual meets last approximately 1.5 to 2 hours. Most of the away meets are held in outdoor pools. Bring sunscreen and a hat for the warm days and warm-ups for the cool mornings.
Events in a dual meet alternate between boys' events and girls' events. For Saturday meets, the girls swim the IM, Fly, and Free individual events and the Medley Relay. The boys swim the longer distance Free, the Breast and Back individual events and the Free Relay. On Wednesday, the events are just the opposite for the girls and the boys. Click here to see the order of events for the dual meets.
Each event has one official heat for every age group. Team points and ribbons are awarded for 1st (5 points), 2nd (3 points) and 3rd (1 point) place in the official heat. Additional extra heats may also be swum but these heats do not count toward team totals and are not awarded ribbons. All times, whether in the official or extra heats, count toward the swimmer’s best times.
Dual Meet Sign Out
If for any reason you can not attend a meet last minute please reach out to the coaches at If your child is sick and needs to cancel last minute, email Blue Dolphins Coaches @ [email protected]
In case of inclement weather, call the Bridgewater YMCA at (908) 526-0688 for meet status or check your email for a notification from your coach.
League Championships
League Championships are held for each league in the NJ Swimming and Diving Conference. The Bridgewater Blue Dolphins will participate in the A-League Championships. At this meet, all teams will compete for team and individual awards. Each swimmer may swim in 2 individual events and 2 relays or 3 individual events and 1 relay. There are no limits on the number of swimmers that can enter so everyone will swim a full meet. The coaches will make the line up.
The A-League Championships is scheduled for the last weekend in July. Usually the 13/O swim on Friday evening and the 12/U swim on Saturday morning. It may also be on Sunday. The schedule for the A-League Championships will be posted when it is available.
Conference Championship Meet
The Conference Championships is a 2-day meet where swimmers from all teams in the NJ Swimming and Diving Conference compete for individual awards. This meet has time standards (or qualifying times). Time Standards for this meet indicate the times that a swimmer must achieve in order to enter an event. The Conference Championships are held on the Tuesday and Wednesday, following the League Championships, but only if a host site is found.
Invitational Meets
Additional invitational meets hosted by teams within the conference and open to all teams within the conference. These meets are optional and require sign up and an entry fee to attend. They are a lot of fun and recommended if you want some additional competition. Expect the meets to last about 4 hours.
Invitational Meets may be different from year to year, but a meet that the Bridgewater Blue Dolphins and Hillsborough Hurricanes have attended in the past is the Roycefield Sprint Meet. The Roycefield Sprint meet is all 25’s. Every age has their own age group. Most swimmers enter all 4 events, 25y Butterfly, 25y Backstroke, 25y Breaststroke, and 25y Free.
