In most sports, it’d be considered a strange scene, as if some mistake had been made.

There was Steve Van Der Beken, the coach of the Manchester West and Central swim teams, waving his arms frantically, hopping around with his right knee wrapped in an ace bandage and screaming words of encouragement across the pool to a swimmer in the boys 500-yard freestyle race at the NHIAA state swimming and diving championships at Swasey Pool on Saturday, Feb. 10.

The only problem: Nick Catano, the swimmer Van Der Beken was supporting, wasn’t from West or Central.

“I don’t hold anything back with any of the kids,” said Van Der Beken, who’s worked with several swimmers outside of the Manchester high school teams through the Manchester Swim Team, including Goffstown High’s Catano. “I enjoy coaching all of these kids, and I’ve been doing it for a long time.”

In the tight-knit world of New Hampshire high school swimming and diving, Van Der Beken’s actions aren’t out of the ordinary. Unlike other sports, battles lines aren’t drawn by town borders, school colors or lane dividers, if they’re drawn at all.

Opposing athletes and coaches cheer for each other, teams practice and mingle with one another, and swimmers from adjoining towns frequently team up, often on one of the area’s year-round club teams like Van Der Beken’s MST Rapids or the Manchester YMCA’s Tiger Sharks out of Goffstown.

As a result, it makes for many incidents like Saturday’s, where a swim meet can be more a reunion of old friends than a statewide competition.

“That’s what’s great about swimming,” said Central swimmer and Hooksett native Ashley Green, who placed third in both the 200-yard freestyle and 500 free.

“It’s such a close-knit sport, we practice together all the time. I guess you can say that about other sports, like soccer and everything, but there’s something different about swimming. We all know how hard we work, and we can relate to each other.”

Green speaks with experience.

Practicing throughout the year with both the Memorial and West teams, she counts the Crusaders’ Meghan Raimondo and the Blue Knights’ Maria Colella of Bedford as two of her best friends – and teammates; the three compete on MST.

Yet, the connections and good will don’t stop with the athletes. Concord coach Karen Jenovese and Hopkinton and Bow coach Joanne Jackson work together on the Racquet Club of Concord’s Blue Dolphins club team as coach and administrator, respectively, while Goffstown coach Cerelia Carosella also works as a coach for the Tiger Sharks.

Taking over the Grizzlies’ team midway through this season and, as she put it, “starting from scratch,” Carosella said other coaches, from Kearsarge and Pinkerton Academy especially, helped her with computing team stats and sorting through the paperwork.

Around the state’s pools, such actions are considered friendly, not unexpected.

“Oh yeah,” Catano said.

“There’s a lot of love around here.”

Local results The West girls boasted a 12thplace team finish, while the boys took home 11th during a solid day for both squads.

The girls were led by freshman Colella’s 11th-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley, her 12th-place showing in the 100- yard breaststroke, and the 400- yard freestyle relay team’s thirdplace finish. That squad included Colella, Ambry Lane, Jennifer Gabriel and Kelsey Poremba.

The 200-yard freestyle team of Poremba, Gabriel, Lane and Colella took ninth.

The boys pulled in points thanks to senior Chad Nettleship, who placed fourth in the 200-yard free and seventh in the 100-yard backstroke, and two relay teams – the 400-yard freestyle team of Nettleship, Andrew Masterson, Nate Williams and Alex Colombo that placed sixth and the 200-yard freestyle team that took 11th.