CHRISTOPHER TRENTO / FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
Passaic Tech got exactly the tune-up it needed on Sunday.
The results showed exactly what its opponents in the upcoming Passaic County Tournament may have feared.
The Bulldogs boys swimming team isn’t just one of the best Big North Liberty or Passaic County teams around. They are among the best in the region and getting better.
Passaic Tech won the North Jersey Super Six Swim Championships on Sunday, beating Bergen County powers Northern Highlands and Teaneck along the way.
“I’m happy with my leaders who really stepped up,” coach Denise Aronson said. “It was a definite team effort. You could see that we didn’t come in first in too many races, but it was our depth that got us to the win.”
PCTI kicked off the meet with a 200 yard medley relay win from the team of Joe Malicki, Brandon Matos, Isaac Nitro and Piero Urteaga. The Bulldogs’ only other win came from Malicki in the 100 yard backstroke, who came 0.02 seconds away from also winning the 100 fly. But the team’s solid nucleus of returning all-division swimmers provide Aronson with a balanced lineup that’s coasted throughout its dual meet competition thus far in the season.
The Bulldogs (6-0) host the Passaic County meet this Saturday and should be the heavy favorites to repeat as champions. What they got this past weekend in the 6-team championship at the Wyckoff YMCA was a way to measure itself against top talent including Teaneck’s Jason Arthur and Francis Biagioli of Northern Highlands.
“It helps them see the competition that’s out there,” Aronson said. We haven’t had the level of competition that we had today so it was awesome.”
Montclair won the girls tournament while Northern Highlands earned second place finishes for both the boys and girls groupings.
Here are some other news and notes from the past week of North Jersey swimming:
BOYS
Teaneck earned the most first places (six) in the Super Six Swim Championships. Jason Arthur picked up victories in the 200 IM and 100 breast, fellow senior Tristan Highet won the 50 free and 100 free and the Highwaymen won a pair of relay races. Highet’s time of 49.77 in the 100 free was close to his best of the season as he got a strong challenge from Pascack Regional’s Eli O’Connor in the event.
One of the best matchups in the meet – or this season – came in Arthur’s win in the 200 IM. Arthur set the Bergen County Meet of Champions record in that event last year and will likely break that record again later this month. But he faced a tough opponent in Northern Highlands’ Francis Biagioli, who placed sixth in the Bergen meet in that event and is among the best seniors in North Jersey. Arthur and Biagioli swam almost evenly in neighboring lanes in the first lap, but Arthur pulled away during the second lap.
Speaking of Biagioli, he managed to win the 500 free in the tournament, fending off strong challenges from Matt Smits of Indian Hills and Garrett Pilkington from Passaic Tech. It followed another strong dual meet on Wednesday by Biagioli and Northern Highlands, who continues gain ground on the Big North Freedom. The Highlanders (5-1) beat division rival Ridgewood, 99-71 and took a 1.5 game division lead over Ramapo. That’s the biggest gap for a first place team in any of the four Big North groupings.
GIRLS
In the Super Six, Pascack Regional swimmer Cassidy Freeman won the 100 fly and posted one of her fastest times of the season in the process. Freeman’s time of 1:01.11 is just 0.10 seconds off a personal season best and ranks as the fourth fastest winning time by a North Jersey athlete this winter.
Leonia/Palisades Park had a strong cross-conference win on Wednesday when it beat Teaneck, 91-79. Elle Morse and Julia Hesterbrink were the top pointer earners for Leonia/Palisades Park, who improved to an NJIC-best 5-1 record.
River Dell/Westwood came away with the closest win of the week by eking out an 86-84 final over Teaneck on Tuesday. Julia Lombardi and Brooke Boes combined for five total victories in River Dell/Westwood’s win.
Wayne Hills puts its undefeated record on the line this Tuesday in a meet with major ramifications in the Big North Liberty. The Patriots (6-0-1) face Passaic Tech (4-1) in a matchup between the division’s only two teams with winning records.