On Saturday morning when the pool deck was packed with parents, teammates and familiar faces, Hopewell Valley Regional High School and The Pennington School met once again in a long-running swimming tradition that remains one of the most meaningful events of the local winter sports season.
The Jan. 10 meet — held at The Pennington School’s pool, which both programs use as their home facility — marked the Bulldogs’ 50th season of varsity swimming and one of the few remaining opportunities each year for the public and private school programs to compete head-to-head. This year, The Pennington School won both the boys and girls meets, earning local bragging rights until the teams meet again next winter.
While changes in league alignment and the separation of public and private school competition have reshaped high school swimming across Mercer County and Central New Jersey, this annual meet has endured. For athletes, coaches and families, it has become as much a community gathering as a competition.
“This is a special meet,” said George Ward, a 1988 Pennington alumnus who has coached the program since 1994. “It’s really one of the last times each year we get to see these teams race each other in this setting. A lot of our kids swim with the same athletes year-round, so this meet always matters.”
Ward noted that the annual matchup has continued almost uninterrupted since the programs began sharing the pool decades ago, missing only the COVID-shortened seasons.
For Hopewell Valley, the meet carries additional significance this winter as the program marks its 50th year. Head coach Denny Atkinson said the milestone underscores how deeply swimming is woven into the district’s athletic culture — even without a home pool of its own.
“Fifty years is a long time,” Atkinson said. “You go to most dual meets and you won’t see this many people in the stands. This one is different. The parents know each other, the kids know each other, and the energy is always higher.”
That energy was evident throughout the meet, from tightly contested individual races to full relay events that brought the crowd to its feet. Several swimmers stepped into unfamiliar events to balance lineups, and coaches on both sides pointed to strong efforts across the board rather than focusing solely on final scores.
Hopewell Valley head coach Olivia Kochis said the meet often challenges athletes in ways that prepare them for the rest of the season, particularly younger swimmers asked to race longer or less familiar events.
On deck, the rivalry followed a familiar rhythm. During the meet, coaches stayed focused on races and lineups. When the final events ended, that intensity gave way to handshakes, hugs and congratulations exchanged between staffs who see each other year after year.
“It’s a rivalry during the meet — we don’t really talk,” Atkinson said with a laugh. “But afterward, it’s different. We see each other all the time. It’s always been that way.”
Ward, now in his 32nd season on the Pennington bench, said the annual meet still resonates decades after he swam in it himself — a reminder for today’s athletes that they are part of something larger than a single season.
“I told our kids afterward, you’ve got local bragging rights for the year,” Ward said. “But more than that, it’s about racing hard, hearing the crowd, and being part of a tradition that’s lasted this long.”
As high school sports continue to evolve, both coaching staffs said they hope the annual matchup remains a constant — even if Hopewell Valley one day gets a pool of its own.
For one more year, at least, the shared pool, packed stands and familiar faces did what they have for decades: bring two school communities together for a meet that feels bigger than the scoreboard.
