A Solid Start for the Greyducks

The Stuyvesant boys’ cross country team, the Greyducks, had its first meet at the Xavier Invitational on September 22. The athletes were split into three divisions: freshman, sophomore, and varsity. Expectations were high for all three packs, and the freshmen were super excited to compete in their first high school meet. Unfortunately, the freshman team was ineligible to score because it only had four people instead of the required five. However, they did gain valuable experience, exemplified by how senior and co-captain Wentao Lin said: “They experienced the pain from running the hills.”

The sophomore team had the highest expectations, as it sent two varsity runners to the meet. “Not only did they meet expectations, they crushed it,” Lin said. The highest performing sophomores placed first, seventh, and 27th in the 2.5-mile run.

Sophomore Atticus Bacon, who took home the gold, is one of the top runners for the Greyducks. “He was our top runner last year, as well as this year,” Lin said. He proved he is the Greyducks’ best runner, finishing first place with a time of 13:51.10, 50 seconds faster than the runner who placed second. He by far performed the best for the Greyducks at the Xavier Invitational. Sophomore Lucas Lee, another top runner from last season, also put together a strong performance, finishing seventh in the race with a time of 15:04.10. Both sophomores outperformed the varsity team, and the sophomore team as a whole placed fifth in their race.

Speaking of the varsity team, it still has room to improve. The top three finishers for the varsity team were Lin, who finished 18th (15:23.0), senior Alex Li, who finished 34th (15:58.1), and senior Jackson Zou, who finished 37th (16:00.0). Compared to the sophomore team, the varsity team fell short of expectations, after having dealt with setbacks. Many seniors were injured, and Coach Carl Disarno didn’t expect most of varsity to be at 100 percent due to the intense workouts they had had during the week.

Even though the Greyducks didn’t do particularly well at their first meet, it’s only the beginning of the season, and they still have a long way to go. The next big meet for the Greyducks will be Mayor’s Cup, where everyone who is active on the PSAL roster will be running. The varsity team lineup has not been finalized, as it’s still being determined based on how each runner did at the first meet and will be finalized by the Mayor’s Cup.

The Greyducks’ performance at their first meet has not deterred them from having high hopes for the upcoming meet. Some boys have set high expectations for themselves, including Lin, who aims to break 15 minutes in the 4000-meter race. The ultimate goal for the Greyducks this season will be to qualify for States, which requires the team to finish top four at “City’s.” “It’s hard, but I’d say it’s doable for us,” Lin said. The Greyducks’ top five varsity runners will need to run sub-18 minutes in the 5000-meter race in order to have a likely chance of qualifying for States. However, they have confidence and high hopes in themselves, which is very important in making this goal possible.