Junior Leah Ciabattoni is a multi-event County Champion for Passaic County Technical Institute.

WAYNE -- Last year, at the Passaic County Championship for girls swimming, then sophomore Leah Ciabattoni of PCTI had a stroke of bad luck. Leah has always been fluid in the pool -- her strokes smooth, her turns seamless, her speed impressive. But on the eve of the biggest race of her season, fluid took on a far less poetic meaning.

There was still plenty in the pool. Leah’s form was still as fluid as ever. But now, it was also in her lungs. Pneumonia, diagnosed just a day before the championship, threatened to sink her chances before she even hit the starting block.

“Last year I had pneumonia. I got diagnosed the day before the championship. The doctor said I could swim and so I was like, I'll swim," said Ciabattoni. "I came in the top five so I still did gain points for my team, but the thing that was the worst for me is I was in the A relay, and my relay came in second by .2 to the relay that Sarah Rodrigues was anchoring.”

Of note, Leah is respectfully referring to Sarah Rodrigues, the highly-decorated standout swimmer from Wayne Valley who has won at every level: League, Passaic County, State, National, and now even making the Olympic cut. So Ciabattoni knew that coming in second, only by seconds, to a national swimming phenom like Rodrigues was no small feat. Still, Leah was disappointed in herself. “She's really talented and I give her that for sure! I just felt bad for my team. I felt like it was my fault.” 

This internal drive is what motivated Leah in her training, morning, afternoon, and/or night, in the last year. It’s a schedule she’s been keeping since her swimming career began as a child and has only increased through her years of club swimming and now coaching. Ciabattoni’s training and discipline paid off this year back at the Passaic County Swimming Championships, where the now-junior was back to full strength, healthy, and determined. 

The pool on Passaic County Technical Institute's campus is her home pool, and her home away from home, so she felt right at home and ready to go full tilt. So how did that turn out?

Passaic Tech Head Coach Gen Wall running along the side encouraging Leah Ciabattoni during her 500 freestyle win

“Individually, I won two individual titles (100 back and 500 free) and one relay (200 medley, where she swam the backstroke): The first was the 200 medley relay, the second was the 100 backstroke, and then the 500 free. Then, I also had the 400 freestyle relay where I was the B relay and we came in second, and our A relay came in first.”

Notably, Ciabattoni always defers back to her TEAM’s success rather than her own accomplishments, and with good reason. Last season, the team was an impressive 9-3, 3-1 in Big North Liberty. This season, the team went 10-2 and won the Big North Liberty Division title, going undefeated in team matchups (4-0).

This was no “flash in the pan” season. This was Passaic Tech’s 7th straight county championship in girls swimming. PCTI girls swimming holds one of the longest-running streaks in New Jersey, trailing only Immaculate Heart (Bergen County, 25) and Chatham (Morris County,15). 

“Our coaches and team are really good this year, and it's such a good environment too. All the girls are supportive of each other, and everybody's speedy, so that adds to making it a team. We all feel heartbreak when we lose, and we are excited when we win. It's almost like a family.” Leah knows the value of family in and out of the pool.

While not the first nor last champion for PCTI, Leah has been a major contributor to the team’s success, as illustrated by her roles in the team’s dominating win over Ridgewood 118-52 in the Semifinal of the NJSIAA Tournament North 1 Group A matchup on February 10. That day, PCTI took the 200 MR in 1:54.55 over Ridgewood’s 2:00:00 even, with a relay team of Leah Ciabattoni, Francesca Cordero, Julia Lo, and Danna Tapia. Leah also took 1st place in the 500 freestyle, the 100 backstroke, and was part of the dominant 400 Freestyle Relay that saw all the top 3 relay finishes go to PCTI: Nadalyn Castrillon, Francesca Cordero, Julia Lo, Charlize Macaranas in 3:57.86; Ashaly Dominguez, Gabriella Bercerra, Leah Ciabattoni, Maya MacCracken in 4:01.80; and Willow Phelps, Elliana Macaluso, Valentina Dominguez, and Naiara Castrillon in 4:22.73.

This is the type of program head coach Gen Wall has built over the years, one that stands out not just in the competitive league, but also at the county and state level. This was one of the reasons Ciabattoni chose PCTI Stem Academy as her high school destination three years ago, for its swimming program and coaching.

“All the coaches are nice people; they train their swimmers so well. Even the girls that aren't on club teams get so fast just by going to their practices. I would say their practices and their structure- the program is high level and that's rare. I don't know many other high schools that do it.” Leah attributes this to Head Coach Gen Wall’s knowledge and her ability to cultivate a positive environment with her swimmers that gets the most out of her team, both individually and as a whole. 

In addition to Wall’s stellar program, another key factor in Ciabattoni’s decision to attend PCTI was its academic offerings, something she’s also been able to dive into with the same determination, discipline, and grace that she demonstrates in the pool. The Ramig gene “pool” has high intellectual curiosity and ability, and Leah has clearly inherited her mother Laura’s intelligence and work ethic. Laura was herself a County Champion in the fall of 1994 for Northern Valley Old Tappan volleyball, from which she graduated with high academic honors in 1995. Laura attended and played volleyball at Providence on an academic scholarship. This balance of being a student-athlete is noticeably instilled in her daughter. 

Ciabattoni plans on studying engineering in college.

Leah’s cheering section includes Mom Laura, sister Jillian, Grandmother Barbara and Grandfather John Ramig, aunt Katie, and her late uncle Michael Ramig watching from above. Here, Jillian counts for Leah during her 1000 freestyle at 2025 NJ YMCA Silver Championships with the Wyckoff Sharks. 

It comes as no surprise, then, that Leah has explored the vast curriculum that Passaic Tech offers for someone of her intellectual abilities and curiosity.

Leah eloquently explains, “I took two AP classes last year. I'm taking four AP classes this year. My academy (like a college major) is engineering. I explored the engineering curriculum, and now I love it. It conformed my love for creativity.”

While Leah studies Mechanical Engineering and eventually will dive into Environmental Engineering, she explains the two different types and how they coexist.

“Mechanical engineering is more broad and it's more like robots and making physical things, right? Environmental engineering is using parts of that, but for the environment. So making that machine more environmentally friendly or creating something that can improve the world around us.”

Even just hearing that, and now re-reading that, phew--this kid is going places. Stevens Institute of Technology is one of those places she’s going, in fact, for her upcoming academic coursework and research project there. Leah explains, “I will go every Saturday for coding and math classes, and then over the summer, I have a 9 to 5 just strictly doing research at Stevens--35 hours a week.” 

Of all the statistics researched for this story, that number stands out the most. While attending school, training, and coaching swimming, Leah is also adding in vigorous college-level coursework and starting an independent research project. 

So you might be wondering, what is this research project that is going to take so many hours out of a high school student’s time?

“You are actually interested in this?” Leah asked incredulously. (Yes, Leah, I’m intellectually curious, a knowledge enthusiast, a deep thinker, a scholar at heart, and a passionate learner myself. Don’t let sports pigeonhole you, kids!)

Leah articulates: “My research project is on students' swimming ability and I'm comparing that to their demographics. My school is very demographically diverse. Ethnicity, gender, religion, social class, all of that. Everyone's very diverse here. We have a swim program instead of gym for 4 weeks freshman year.”

With that combined passion for swimming and academia, Ciabattoni wishes to share her passion for swimming by offering that opportunity for all students at a young level, due to the importance of being able to swim and be around any body of water. Leah's socio-economic awareness and civic responsibility are admirable at any age, but especially remarkable for a teenager. NorthJerseySports.com is looking forward to seeing where Leah will make her next big splash, but for now, we’re just content to watch her and her PCTI coaches and teammates continue their swimming dynasty.

Christine Massaro is a special contributor to northjerseysports.com

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