Greyducks Fall Short at City Championships

The Stuyvesant boys’ cross country team’s season ended at City Championships on November 10. Only the top four teams move on to the New York State Federation Championships, and the team placed eighth. This is the second straight year that the Greyducks failed to qualify for the Federation meet. The last time the Greyducks qualified was back in 2016, when they placed first at City Championships.

To make it to the City Championships, Stuyvesant first had to finish in the top six at the Manhattan Borough Championships on October 30. The Greyducks absolutely dominated the field, placing first. Three athletes finished in the top five, and all seven Greyduck team members finished in the top 20. The team accomplished its goal of running in a pack; the difference between the fastest time and the slowest time was less than a minute. However, the Greyducks were expected to win the Borough Championships. The competition would be a lot stiffer at the city level.

Stuyvesant’s fastest finisher in the varsity 5000-meter race at the City Championships was freshman Atticus Bacon, who placed 32nd with a time of 17:58.56. Senior and co-captain Justin Zhang came in 41st with a time of 18:08.71, followed by junior Baird Johnson in 58th, senior James Huang in 73rd, and freshman Lucas Lee in 74th. Senior and co-captain Caleb Hoo finished in 84th and junior Alex Li in 104th.

“I think varsity did very well,” said Hoo, even though the Greyducks did not crack the top four. He saw the improvement in many areas from the team’s previous races. “Part of the improvement was from a more even pack spread, but I also credit everyone running their own race and disregarding the status quo as important factors.”

Hoo thinks that next year’s team will have a great shot at breaking the streak and qualifying for the Federation Championships. “Next year on track will be amazing. Baird [Johnson] is back in the zone and has a new philosophy on performing well—the key to doing well is being injured the least, something he has struggled with the last two years. Atticus [Bacon] and Lucas [Lee] are already great and still have potential. Alex Li still has a vision and one more year to test his potential.” Hoo’s claims are backed up with some evidence. At the Freshman City Championships, Stuyvesant placed fourth, with Bacon finishing third and Lee 11th.

Hoo was also impressed with how the JV team raced at the city championships. “[Juniors] Wentao [Lin], Jackson [Zou], and Jacob [Olin] broke their plateaus and got after it today,” he said. The JV team finished sixth out of 17 teams.