PCTI girls make history with first North Jersey Group A title
West Milford. After years of near-misses, the PCTI girls swim team captured the first North Jersey Group A state championship for a Passaic County girls’ team, while the boys continued their dominance with county and league titles.
| 27 Feb 2026 | 03:35
Sophomore Tristan Roer, left, of High Crest Lake in West Milford, contributed points in all three championships, swimming the breaststroke, butterfly, and relay poses alongside fellow teammate and butterfly/freestyler Nicholas Villalobos. (
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Senior captains Elliana Macaluso, and Julia Lo hold the onc- elusive North 1 Group A NJSIAA state championship swimming trophy. (Photo Lisa Macaluso) (
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After two decades of coming close, the PCTI girls swim team captured history by winning the North Jersey Group A state championship, the first-ever title for a Passaic County girls’ team.
Led by senior Elliana Macaluso of West Milford and an experienced group of juniors and seniors, the Lady Bulldogs began their postseason run after securing an eighth consecutive Passaic County championship. A dominant semifinal win over Pascack Valley set up a championship matchup with Morristown, where PCTI swept the top three butterfly spots to take the lead for good and claim the NJSIAA North 1 Group A trophy.
“What an amazing feeling, to do something that had never been done before!” said Macaluso, a distance specialist. “Every extra minute spent in the pool training, practicing, it was worth it!”
The PCTI boys’ swim team also capped a strong season, winning their 10th straight Passaic County title and completing an undefeated Big North Liberty regular season with a league championship. The Bulldogs advanced to the North Jersey 1 Group A state sectionals, defeating Columbia 96-74 in the semifinals before falling to Ridgewood in the finals. West Milford resident Tristan Roer contributed on the boys’ squad as a breaststroker.
Meanwhile, the Lakeland-West Milford swim teams continued to improve in county and Big North competitions, finishing with 5-6 and 7-4 records for the boys and girls, respectively. Swimmers set school and team records, including Kayla Struble’s 50-yard freestyle win and Nate Schouten’s two county records. West Milford was represented on the girls’ team by Mia Church, Madelyn Stillman, Isabella Miegoc, Kelsey Kaminskyj, Irelynn Simm, Della Martin, Avery Mett and Maeve Stillman, and on the boys’ team by Nicholas Locke, Jacob Price, Liam Batista, Matteo Macaluso, Thomas Tufaro and Knox Goodman.