Greyducks Carry Momentum Into the Start of the Season

The Stuyvesant Greyducks, the girls’ track team, put on an outstanding performance this winter by winning their fourth indoor Borough Championship in a row. The indoor track team has since made the transition to outdoor track and also added many new members to their roster for the start of the new season. Despite the changing faces of the team, all of the athletes are looking to carry the momentum and aggression from the winter into their outdoor competitions this spring.

The team traveled to Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island for Mayor’s Cup, where they went against the top high school student-athletes from the PSAL, CHSAA, and NYSAIS leagues on Saturday, April 14 . Despite the tough competition, the Greyducks put up strong performances in a variety of events. On the field, senior and co-captain Venus Nnadi placed third in the varsity pole vault (7 ft, 9 in) and 13th in the triple jump (26 ft, 7 in), continuing her streak of strong performances.

The Greyducks did not perform at the high level they usually do on the track, but there were still some outstanding performances. Junior Clara Mohri came in sixth in the 1500-meter run (4:55:72), while setting a new personal record. Only two seconds separated third place and sixth place, showing the level of competition present at this meet. In terms of other long-distance events, freshman Jessica Kwok and sophomore Elizabeth Reizis placed sixth (8:39:53) and 10th (9:08:79) in the 2000-meter steeplechase, respectively. Kwok finished only eight seconds off the City Championships qualifying standard, a notable record considering this was only her second time participating in the steeplechase.

Stuyvesant also found success in the relays. Out of the PSAL teams present, the Greyducks finished third in the freshman 4x400-meter relay, thanks to runners Kwok, Chloe Terestchenko, Talia Kahan, and Grace Cantarella. The sophomores also didn’t disappoint, taking fourth place in the sophomore 4x800-meter relay with a collaborative effort from Jing Su, Tiffany Cao, Claire Zhu, and Ester Suleymanov. “We did pretty well, but at the end of the race, everyone on my relay was a little disappointed. If we all went a couple seconds faster, we could’ve placed a couple of spots higher,” Su said. In a sport in which seconds can mean the difference between advancing and getting eliminated, this mindset is crucial for the growth and success of the team.

For example, sophomore Angela Zhong barely missed the cutoff for qualifying for City’s. She was one second away from making the cut for her event: the racewalk. However, she is using this as motivation in preparation for the upcoming meets. When asked about her results, she said, “Being a few seconds off from qualifying to City’s made me realize that I’m going to have to work harder and dedicate more of my time into practices. Of course, I was disappointed in myself, but my teammates were the ones who encouraged me to turn my disappointment into motivation, and now I’m determined to cut those few seconds off to qualify.”

The main goal for the Greyducks this season is to send more athletes to City Championships, which takes place on May 27. So far, five members have qualified for City Championships: Nnadi for pole vault, Mohri in both the 1500-meter and 3000-meter runs, junior and co-captain Jeanette Cheung, and juniors Bernice Chen and Kayla Lew for racewalk. The Greyducks have multiple opportunities to raise this number, one of which is the Borough Championships.

The Greyducks have won Borough’s four straight times and are going to do all they can to extend that streak this May. When asked how the team was preparing for this important meet, Cheung kept it simple, saying, “We're just doing what we have been doing all season—putting in the work and pushing ourselves at both practices and meets.”

Whether or not the Greyducks win Borough’s again, they can count on these meets to give real experience to the new freshmen and sophomores on the team. “We are working on developing the new girls who joined this season; our sprint/field event program hasn't been as strong as our distance program in the past, so we're really working on building a well-rounded team,” Cheung said. As the newer athletes get comfortable with the competitiveness that comes with track and field, and as they continue to learn more from the older girls, they will help the Greyducks maintain their dominance in Manhattan and beyond.